DVD Duo

No, these aren't Oscar movies. I saw them in the theaters in late summer and early fall, but it took me so long to write these reviews that I decided to save them up for their DVD releases in January.

Swing Vote wants to be political satire with a dash of Frank Capra. Igor aims for the Shrek crowd as well as fans of Tim Burton animation. Neither film hits its mark, although Igor comes closer to success.

Although only two hours, Swing Vote feels as long as one of star Kevin Costner’s epic production. Director/co-writer Joshua Michael Stern tries to present Bud Johnson (Costner) as an everyday factory-working single dad whose vote really counts. Political operatives Nathan Lane and Stanley Tucci reshape their respective platforms and candidates, Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper, to cater to the random comments of one Texico, New Mexico, voter. Besides these repetitive scenes, which aren’t that funny to begin with, Swing Vote’s problem is that its good ol’ boy isn’t worth rooting for. Bud’s a drunk who barely raises daughter Molly (newcomer Madeline Carroll, a find); Swing Vote wouldn’t even exist had the plucky preteen not had to sneakily cast a ballot for her hung-over father.

Igor wants to be a European Madagascar, fast-talking lines littered with pop-culture references, but it’s pitched awkwardly between young’uns (who won’t get it) and their parents (who will be bored). John Cusack leads a hip vocal crew as the title character, a little Igor who dreams of winning the Evil Science Fair; instead, he creates an Annie-loving creature voiced by Molly Shannon who’s anything but mean. Igor scores most of its points on technical merit, not artistic interpretation. The quirky, stylized look of Anthony Leondis’ film recalls The Hunchback of Notre Dame crossed with Corpse Bride. If only the message of acceptance weren’t so generically pat: It doesn’t mesh with vocal talent as varied as Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Coolidge and Eddie Izzard as Dr. Schadenfreude.