Once upon a time, the leaders of the world were mad scientists and evil geniuses. The methods they made use of in order to rule the world were blackmail, threats and terrible creatures. The humble class of hunchbacks, whose every member was named Igor, could only dream of becoming one of the heads of the murky Kingdom of Malaria (what a name!). This is what the animated “Igor,” directed by Tony Leondis, mainly focuses on.

The territory was once a benign agrarian society until a bloodcurdling dark covering speckled the sun and threw the realm into misery. Reigned by enigmatic King Malbern (Jay Leno), the Kingdom of Malaria set up a plan to breathe new life into its organization by encouraging a line of evil scientists to build up out-of-this-world weapons of mass destruction and obliging everybody else in the world not to use these objects by any means.

The profoundly symbolic premise is brought in by the film’s hero, Igor, voiced by John Cusack, who is not an ordinary Igor. He is particularly clever and could have effortlessly been an evil scientist if it weren’t for that darned hunch. However, he does obtain a “yes master’s” degree at the Igor University and eventually enters the laboratory of Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese). He becomes the assistant of Dr. Glickenstein, but, in spite of the fact that the job may sound fussy, he does nothing more than pull the switch (I think that’s even easier than pushing the button).

Igor has an expressive, emotional look on his flying saucer-like face and fails in his decision to create an evil being, as nothing can stay in the way of his bighearted nature.

He nevertheless tries to make the most of the wicked skills he was taught and the result is a pair of odd creatures conceived to lend him a hand in his attempt to escape the wretchedness his hunch cursed him with. Scamper (Steve Buscemi) is a pessimistic rabbit-like thing who always has suicidal thoughts, while Brain (Sean Hayes) is a silly pile of brain cells squeezed into a gumball machine. The two beings help Igor give life to a wannabe evil creature in order for him to win the grand prize at the annual Evil Science Fair.

However, his invention proves to be anything but evil, because giant Frankenstein-girl Eva (Molly Shannon) is more interested in becoming an actress than being malicious.

No movie is a movie without a bad guy and comedian Eddie Izzard does a terrific job voicing the wicked Dr. Schadenfreude, backed by his mercurial girlfriend, voiced with delectable sumptuousness by Jennifer Coolidge.

“Igor” is not bad, but it’s not good either. It lacks the magic that usually lures kids and they may actually dislike it, as the film brings to light too many issues that kids would find hard to follow. Not to mention their parents, who will probably be assaulted with unanswerable questions. “Igor” goes too far on its way to originality and it’s uncertain whether the clouds will vanish from the Kingdom of Malaria.