In theaters

IGOR, directed by Tony Leondis, written by Chris McKenna, 86 minutes, rated PG.

The new computer-animated movie “Igor” is set within the land of Malaria, and as bad luck would have it, the film itself feels as if it were written and conceived under the haze of some unwanted, lingering malaise.

Tony Leondis directs from Chris McKenna’s script, and what they bring to the screen is a movie that blatantly recalls the animated style championed by Tim Burton in such films as “James and the Giant Peach” and “A Nightmare Before Christmas,” but which fails to bring a satisfying story to bolster that animation.

The best part of the movie is, in fact, the animation – it’s an odd world of menace and wackery tossed amid a whole lot of tomfoolery. Also strong is the voice talent, which is led by John Cusack as Igor, a hunchback who slaves for a buffoonish master scientist named Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese), but whose own creativity is stifled by a system that refuses to embrace it.

Worse for Igor is that he lacks individuality. Instead of being Malaria’s only Igor, he’s actually one of many, all of whom are treated as third-rate citizens in a bizarro world occluded by oppression and also a depressing covering of clouds.

For reasons that won’t be revealed here, the sun never shines in Malaria, which casts a gloom over a movie whose cinematography has the chilly hues of a corpse. For flashes of color, the film turns to its screwball characters, such as Igor’s failed experiments – an immortal rabbit named Scamper (Steve Buscemi), who tries to commit suicide throughout (tough to blame him), and Brain (Sean Hayes), who lives in a jar and isn’t exactly a child of MENSA.

When Dr. Glickenstein unexpectedly offs himself because of an experiment gone awry, Igor finally is able to realize his full potential. He does so by building Eva (Molly Shannon), a giant Frankenstein-like she-monster whom Igor plans to put forth as his entry into Malaria’s Evil Science Fair. Trouble is, as frightening as Eva looks, she’s actually rather sweet. Worse for Igor is that she doesn’t want to be evil so much as wants to be a stage actress.

Some will argue whether there’s a difference, but I digress. For villains, the movie chooses Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) and his cruel minx of a girlfriend, Jacylyn (Jennifer Coolidge, whose marvelous, warbling voice is its own special effect), who can turn into any number of creatures with the mere pop of a pill.

What it all adds up to is, well, a whole lot of nothing. The trouble with “Igor” is that it doesn’t just lack laughs, it also lacks action – there are long stretches where you realize a better title for this baby would have been “Ibore.” While it’s true that there is a nicely twisted bit at the end that involves Eva pulling an Annie on the world in the weirdest rendition of “Tomorrow” you’ll ever see or hear (if the movie had been this insane throughout, we might have had something here), the film otherwise is little more than a string of uninspired gimmicks attached to some worn-out genre cliches.

Grade: C-

On DVD and Blu-ray disc

The dead-on-arrival sex-thriller “Deception” is a mess and, worse, it manages to be a mostly dull mess at that, with screenwriter Mark Bomback’s script piling on so many heated (and telegraphed) twists that the movie might as well be the cinematic equivalent of a stripped-down version of the Kama Sutra – one without the surprises, the promised peaks, the necessary thrills to make this tangled effort worth it.

Ewan McGregor is Jonathan McQuarry, a lonely New York accountant who one day meets Hugh Jackman’s Wyatt Bose, a devil in a blue suit who leads Jonathan down the sort of dark corridors that might initially have a touch of glamour but which quickly lead to ruin by one ugly cell phone deception.

For an additional dose of trouble, the movie offers up a gorgeous blonde named S (Michelle Williams), just S, who in typical femme fatale form turns out to cause plenty of difficulties for poor Jonathan. Watching him fall into her clutches, you want to scream at him, “Deception!” But why bother? At this point, all is lost, save for a kidnapping, a wealth of double-crosses and more than a few sniggers from those who watch.

Two sci-fi horror films are just out on Blu-ray disc, marking the first and second part of Timur Bekmambetov’s proposed trilogy. First is 2005’s “Night Watch,” in which chaos and confusion thrive among a hive of vampires, and second is 2007’s “Day Watch,” in which vampires thrive among the chaos and confusion. Tipping the balance in favor of the vampires makes “Day Watch” especially recommended, as is John Carpenter’s 1982 film “The Thing,” a beautifully atmospheric, creepy horror movie starring Kurt Russell. That film also is out on Blu-ray.

Joining it in there (and also on standard DVD) is the romantic comedy “Made of Honor,” a slight romp starring Patrick Dempsey as a wealthy cad who decides the love of his life is his best friend, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), but only after she falls for another man (Kevin McKidd). The rest is a predictable, straight shot to the end, with moments so light, they alone could lift the economy. In spite of their cardboard characters, Dempsey and Monaghan do have chemistry and they make the best of it here, but they deserve better. And, really, so do we.

WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, DVD giveaways and archive of hundreds of movie reviews. Smith’s reviews appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.