The comic timing in "Igor" is impeccable. However, the comedy itself is, well, peccable.

In this animated comedy, the jokes come exactly when they should. But perhaps only one in three is funny -- and that's at the beginning. Before long, one joke in five is amusing, then one in 10, and finally just one.

Nothing drains the life out of a comedy like a barrage of jokes that smack of desperation. Knowing that a joke was needed at a certain time, the filmmakers seem to have thrown in the first thing they thought of, over and over again.

The story itself is a fractured fairy tale, a new take on the Frankenstein story that would be newer if Mel Brooks hadn't done it 20 years ago.

Despite its PG rating, "Igor" is not a movie for children. It's not that there is anything inappropriate for them, it's just that they will not understand any part of it. The target audience for this film is the fans of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network -- smart, maladjusted and socially awkward adolescents. But just because they may like the idea of the movie, that doesn't mean they will enjoy the jokes.

The fairy-tale land of Malaria has turned to Evil as a way to fight back against a continual cloud cover. Evil scientists are the heroes of the land, and each evil scientist has his own hunchback assistant named Igor.

John Cusack provides the voice of an Igor with aspirations. He has already created two sidekicks, an immortal but suicidal rabbit and one of those sci-fi robots with its brain in a jar. Neither is a great success, but Igor still aspires to rise above his caste and become a mad scientist.

The problem is, he isn't as evil as he'd like to be. And the Frankensteinish monster he creates literally would not hurt a fly. Meanwhile, the most successful of all mad scientists, Dr. Schadenfreude, hopes to steal Igor's monster and win the annual Evil Science Fair.

Schadenfreude. That's actually kind of funny. Or maybe it just seems funny in comparison to all the jokes that aren't as good.

The animation looks more than a little Tim Burtony, and the musical selections by Louis Jordan and Louis Prima are bizarrely out of place.

In other people's hands, "Igor" could have been a classic. But what was made is just a wasted opportunity.