SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

morrison-dylan-fan With Easter coming up I started looking for an animated title that a pal would enjoy watching over the holiday.Seeing clips of the latest superhero flicks,I remembered hearing about an animated Hellboy movie from a few years ago,which led to me picking up the sword of stone.The plot:Reading an ancient scroll, Professor Sakai unleashes a number of demon spirits.Learning that the demons are after a mythical sword, Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense agents Hellboy, Kate Corrigan and Russell Thorne locate the sword.Shortly after picking up the sword,Hellboy vanishes into another dimension.Finding himself in a new dimension,Hellboy decides that he must untangle the myths entwined round the sword.View on the film:Making his (feature) animation debut,co-writer/(along with Matt Wayne & Mike Mignola) director Tad Stones gives the title a stylish,rough edge,Anima- inspired appearance,with the pulpy colours linking the film to its comic-book roots.For the screenplay,the writers stray into creepy horror,as flying heads and vengeful ghosts splat the screen.Taking a road movie approach,the writers disappointingly make the film feel a slow-paced,due to Hellboy being placed on an obstacle course which lacks any threatening atmosphere.Taking on the voice after playing him in the live action takes, Ron Perlman gives a wonderful performance as Hellboy,thanks to Perlman hitting Hellboy's action roar with a deadpan dry with,as Hellboy discovers a new sword in the stones.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com Cartoon TV movies are not uncommon in the world of popular characters. Several icons have had theatrical runs and then later on are moved to TV movies. Some stuck with live-action, while others turned to different methods. For Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy (2004), animation was the next route. For a few reasons, it's understandable to why this was the definitive choice. First and foremost, animation is cheaper than live- action. The second reason would be the demographic. If it's a cartoon, there's a good chance more children would end up seeing it. A third possible reason was to see if it would turn into a series. A perfect example of this would be the TV movie / Direct-to-DVD release of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000). After its success, the cartoon became a running TV series on the Disney Channel. It's interesting because this could have been like that but there are some things holding it back too.It's difficult to say what time this installment of Hellboy takes place. Since Dr. Broom (Hellboy's father) is not shown, it is assumed that it takes place after the first theatrical film. When a magical katana sword possesses the body of a Japanese Sword Historian, Hellboy, Liz and Abe Sapien are brought in. However, this doesn't exactly make it that much more exciting story wise. The story is about Hellboy taking on another spirit creature but it feels very detached from its predecessor. Just because it's not live-action doesn't mean the story can't continue from the events of the last movie. The back-story to the mystical katana sword is a bit cliché but not too dull to be bored with. The section of writing that suffers the most is the plot. Hellboy ends up being caught up in a mystical world where he has to find his way out and it takes up the majority of the movie. This is where it feels slow - even for a little over 70 minutes.Another problem in this feature is the animation itself. The flow of how the characters move isn't that smooth. The mouth work to the voice acting looks rather rigid as well. And what's with Hellboy's design? A huge upper torso and scrawny goat legs? I think that could be evened out a little more. An element that doesn't need any fixing however is the level that this cartoon sets itself at. Meaning, it's edgy. Not edgy enough to have curvaceous women in it, but it does have some disturbing images, close to heavy violence and several swears. This is good and all but it does bring into question if this film was made for children. If it was made for children, all the things mentioned prior should've been toned down. And if it was for adults, it should've been made like the HBO Spawn series. The action and creature designs are note worthy though. Dark and creepy cartoons are not as common among animation movies so that's a plus.For voice acting is definitely smart of the casting department to grab ahold of Ron Perlman and Selma Blair. Their voices can't be replaced. The same also should've gone for David Hyde Pierce who voiced Abe Sapien from the live-action run. Nothing on Doug Jones who was the physical representation of Abe, but Pierce has always been the voice of scientific sounding characters. Jones' voice as his own character doesn't accomplish that same feat. Phil LaMarr also has a few voice roles too. Listen for him. The score composed by Christopher Drake is well done. His tracks represent the scenes properly and he also maintains the establish recognizable theme Marco Beltrami had created from the first movie. That is commendable considering most composers either ignore or forget these key pieces. Its fun but not engaging enough like the original.It provides some of the same quality like the original with its returning cast of voices, edgy action, grotesque creatures and music, but its writing isn't as polished. The story elements aren't as captivating as they were from before.

vukodlak The latest incarnation of the Mike Mignola's once underground, now seemingly omnipresent and unstoppable, comic book masterpiece, 'Hellboy', now comes into the world of animation. The first of the several planned animated films, 'The Sword of Storms' takes Hellboy and drops him in a fantasy world of Japanese folklore. The voice acting is excellent. Ron Perlman has now become the de facto voice of Hellboy, and if this ever becomes an animated series, his presence will be crucial for its success. More surprisingly, considering her usually rather flat and whiny voice, Selma Blair delivers a finely nuanced performance. The best of all however, is Doug Jones. Seemingly perennially cursed by his background as a mime, the man has been seen in several great films in recent years but never heard. He has a pleasant, deep-ish voice, which entirely suits Abe Sapien. David Hyde Pierce acquitted himself well in Hellboy but will not be missed in the sequel. Hopefully Mr Jones' fine performance here will encourage studio execs to leave him be as the voice of the Silver Surfer. The character designs are deliberately different from Mignola's and in my opinion, that is a smart decision. Hellboy himself remains relatively faithful to the original concept, but shown in a more stylised form, reminiscent of Bruce Timm's drawings. For the most part, this works, apart from an occasional slip where Hellboy's face takes on an exaggerated facial expression, lapsing into caricature. Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman and a few of the supporting characters are more radically redesigned and remind of the current pseudo-manga style of 'The Batman' or 'Jackie Chan Adventures'. Personally, I am not a great fan of this particular approach, but I acknowledge it is popular and in context, effective. Mike Mignola's original drawing style is not completely ignored and is most clearly evoked in the design of Hellboy's various skeletal and monstrous opponents. There are also some attempts to emulate the comic's use of shadows (most notably in the "Heads" sequence). There are however, some problems. The animation itself is very hit and miss, and apart from the already mentioned weird facial expressions, there are occasional strange and unnatural movements from the characters. Some scenes feature noticeably poorer animation quality than the overall film. They appear jerky and cheap and look as though they were completed in a rush. The plot itself is not overly engaging. Although a story about cursed ancient lovers shows promise, it is severely underdeveloped, in favour of some nonsense about Thunder Gods and Dragons. The majority of the actual film shows Hellboy wandering around Wonderland (or something), fighting assorted monsters. Some of these action sequences are great fun but it all gets repetitive so that the overall effect is episodic and only occasionally compelling (I'm going to mention "Heads" again here – that segment is excellent). The other half of the film deals with Abe and Liz, but they are not given much to do, and their action sequences are nowhere near as interesting as Hellboy's. There is some attempt to deal with Liz's distrust of her powers but it largely falls flat, especially compared to the comics and film. However, the fact that there is some characterisation at all, as well as the presence of some rather mature themes and some unflinching violence mark this as more than just a kids-only film. Hopefully, the creators are just hitting their stride, and some of the wrinkles will be ironed out by the next instalment.

crowrobot Ron Perlman is awesome as Hellboy. This is a scientific fact; even the critics who disliked the 2004 live-action 'Hellboy' admitted that Perlman owned the screen. So, now we have the animated 'Sword of Storms', and it's a great first outing in what I hope will become a regular series.Beginning with a great action sequence where Hellboy (Perlman again), fish-man Abe Sapien (voice of Doug Jones), and pyrokinetic Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) fight a giant bat god and some Mayan zombies, the film rockets towards Japan, where a professor has become possessed by the demons Thunder and Lightning. The demons were trapped in the Sword of Storms, and Hellboy is transported to a mythological Japanese world when he picks up the sword. Now the big red guy must deal with floating heads, spider-women, kappas, and Thunder and Lightning themselves in a battle to (recite in unison) save the world.First things first: The animation itself is pretty sweet. The action is kinetic and exciting, and I loved just how odd some of the creatures Hellboy faced were. Seriously, how can you not like floating heads that demand to know where Hellboy has hidden their bodies? True, there are times where the character movements are a tad jerky, but it's splendid overall.The same goes for the voice acting. Perlman once more owns the movie as the voice of Hellboy, and his laid-back attitude to all the weirdness surronding him is hilarious. Doug Jones is very good as Abe Sapien; in the live-action film, an uncredited David Hyde-Pierce voiced Abe, and while Pierce did a good job, Jones brings an everyman likability to the role. I liked Peri Gilpin as Hellboy's friend Agent Kate Corrigan (I hope we see more of this character in the future) and the miscellaneous characters are voiced well. Selma Blair, on the other hand, does not fare so well as Liz; she seems bored, frankly, and bored is not the same as the laid-back attitudes of Perlman and Jones.Despite a fairly episodic plot, and the aforementioned lackluster Selma Blair, 'Sword of Storms' is extremely entertaining, and it gives me high hopes for the future.