Recently I went to see Igor the movie and I found it very amusing. The majority of the professional critics didn't however and after reading several reviews, I got a headache from how almost identical they were. The most common complaint was that the style was a bland imitation of Tim Burton's work. This I have to disagree with greatly.

First of all, Tim Burton did not invent the general concept of distorted and Halloweenish characters. That is a concept that has been in all art mediums since humans bothered to make anything creative. Tim Burton's particular style of design was inspired by the German impressionists and I feel that the art in Igor takes more from that inspiration then Tim's work. Even if it was inspired in some way by Tim Burton, it isn't like his work is the only work that has those particular elements. Another individual that also produces works in a similar style is Henry Selick among others. In general, Igor's art style is much more colorful in its palette then any of Tim's work and creates a setting of gloom from a wide variety of colors instead of limiting the palette to a small number of colors as is done in Tim's best-known films.

The second biggest complaint is that the story is yet another "outsider struggling to find his/her place in the world" story. Hate to break it to them but it is practically impossible to be completely original. If anyone bothers to read most literature written today then compare it to common works in past ages, you will find plenty of similarities in terms of themes and (sometimes) plotlines. The thing people should be looking for isn't so much if the themes and skeleton of the story are original so much. They should be looking to see what was done differently. If they had bothered, they would have discovered that the film actually had plenty to offer them in that regards.

The third complaint is that it is just a "shrek" for the horror genre. To be honest, it is just another farce based on horror movies. Something that has been done but not enough in my opinion. Not a huge genre for children but there are plenty made for adults so it doesn't hurt to give kids a movie or too that is both funny and Halloweenish for them. Lets face it parents, which would you prefer for your kids? This or Scream? One thing to keep in mind is that it was aimed at kids. There are some witty moments that adults will like that most kids will miss but it is mostly a kids film so don't go in expecting a rival for Shrek. In other words, I love the Shrek series but complaints about how anything of a satiric nature in animation is now "trying to be another Shrek" is just getting old. Shrek did not invent farce and satire so lets drop it already and let us have some laughs!

In other words, don't listen to critics of these kind of films. Go see it yourselves or if you must have another opinion before going to it, ask your friends about it. They are more likely to give a reliable review of this and any movie that you might ever see.

new widget/ game for Nightmare before Christmas

tons of fun and I recommend it to anyone that loves the Nightmare before Xmas