Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006)

The first of two animated features starring the big, red demon- turned- good-guy himself, "Sword of Storms" is a fun little diversion for fans of action and adventure, and for that kid inside all of us. Providing just enough chuckles and good-natured thrills to not only appeal to long time franchise fans, but also for newcomers alike, this is a very entertaining cartoon feature. Though it most certainly isn't without its own series of flaws and issues that holds it just a bit shy of being fantastic.Featuring voice-over work by cast-members of the two big-screen Hellboy flicks and featuring producers Guillermo del Toro (director of the live-action movies) and Mike Mignola (original creator of the character), this is definitely a worthy way to expand the overall media franchise. Especially when combined with the talents of director Tad Stones (creator of "Darkwing Duck" and producer/director/storyboard artist on numerous other cartoon productions), who is a great fit for the material.While investigating a new case with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is magically transported to a mystical kingdom populated with various monsters, creatures and forces straight out of Japanese folklore. While fellow agents Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) try to solve the mysteries at-hand, Hellboy must battle through this strange new world in order to get home and help his allies stop a much larger threat.While it is decidedly far more friendly towards older children and young teens than the comics or big-screen adaptations ever were, it's still a fairly appealing movie and even as someone in his late 20's, I still eat it up whenever I pop in my copy. It may be a bit too intense for particularly younger kids (I wouldn't really recommend it or its follow-up to anyone under 8, personally), but it's still something that I think the whole family could get a kick out of.The voice-over work is quite good and helps usher in audiences familiar with the live-action films, particularly Ron Perlman, who I'm convinced could play Hellboy in his sleep. (It's a role he was born to play, though he tragically has only had the chance to play him a handful of times between the films and animated features.) Blair and Jones are also a lot of fun.Though don't be confused- this is definitely a new "continuity" and "canon" and isn't a direct follow-up to the movies. It exists in its own sort-of "parallel universe" despite the recurring cast- members. (As creator Mike Mignola has been pretty adamant that any adaptations across different media do their own thing and reinterpret his characters in new ways.)The story is fun, many of the sequences are quirky and reminiscent of works like "Alice in Wonderland" or "Wizard of Oz", and it's very solidly directed. Also, the score by Christopher Drake is very nice and I really appreciated that he incorporated some of the themes composed by Marco Beltrami for the original live-action movie.That being said, there are some flaws. A few of the supporting characters come across as, well... too cartoonish. Yes, that may sound paradoxical in a cartoon, but there's a few roles that just feel out of place and too needlessly light-hearted compared to the others. In addition, the film feels disjointed at times, with segments that are far too disconnected to really gel into the overall narrative. And I'd be lying if I said a few jokes and dialog exchanges didn't feel contrived and sloppy. But overall, I can't complain too much. It rises above its flaws thanks to good humor, great action beats and the lovable cast.I give it a pretty-good 7 out of 10. Worth checking out for sure. As is its superior sequel "Blood & Iron."

After a professor opens an enchanted scroll, the BPRD have to face the threat of two gods(Storm and Lightning) returning, and awakening their brothers, the dragons, and ending the reign of man on Earth. Hellboy himself(who spends almost all of this isolated from the others, on a sort of spirit quest, defeating a handful of fairly distinguished mythical creatures from Asian folklore - spiders, cannibalism, those kinds of things... admittedly, that does lead to this having a video-game structure, with just one fight sequence after another, and there is only minimal connection between them; they just wanted a lot of these beings in the same production) has to protect the titular sword, which holds the power to release the duo. Abe and Liz are together on a mission, supporting each other and developing their relationship, with her having to deal with her powers(in that they are extremely useful, yet they make her feel like, as she puts it, "a freak") and him going far to help keep her safe. This is roughly 78 minutes, including the short end credits. Having not read the comics, I can't say if this lives up to the source material. The style appears to be pretty similar, and certainly quite non-threatening. Animation is nice, with some visual ingenuity and use of colors to set tone(this is effective at being creepy, at establishing mood and at very sharp turns in our perception of something as a positive or negative presence) if nothing terribly creative about the camera-work and editing(considering the possibilities, when one doesn't have the laws of physics that constrict live features). The voice acting is well-done. This gets some extra appeal to those of us who only know these great characters from the movies by it being the same trio, and they make the transition well(Perlman is just as enjoyable here as in the flicks, and steals the show here, as well). I suppose you could argue that Blair sounds slightly off, and slightly overdoing it here and there. The plot is sufficiently engaging and there is a fair balance between eerie, mysterious beings and the like and explanation so you aren't completely weirded out. This is well-paced, you're not bored and there's a solid amount of action, as well as catching up on what's going on, with consistently rising stakes throughout. The humor comes very naturally to it and is genuinely funny. Dialog is very well-written. We change locations numerous times, and you don't get bored with the setting. And yes, Red does get to swing that blade a bit. One could probably follow this reasonably going into it blind, not knowing who these people are, etc. The DVD comes with slightly longer extras put together than the picture itself: An informational commentary track by Mike Mignola, Tad Stones, Phil Weinstein, and interesting featurettes: 42 and a half minute Keepers of Hellboy(the first scene of the film, then a panel of the creators of this at a con), To Hell & Back(10 minutes), Conquering Hellboy: The Actor's Role(6 and a half minutes), View From The Top(5 and a half minutes), A New Breed(5 minutes), Hellboy Goes East: Tail Spin(3 minutes), Hellboy Goes East: Samurai Songs(3 minutes), Hellboy Goes East: Prop Prefecture(2 and a half minutes) and Hellboy Goes East: Origins(2 and a half minutes). There is violent and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to fans of the franchise. 7/10

to me,this is animated Hellboy feature is a mixed bag.firstly, i thought the story was pretty slow.the concept was interesting,but it didn't translate well onto the screen.some of the animation was pretty good,and some of it was pretty poor.the fight scenes were pretty good,i'll admit,and there were some funny bits.the voice acting was good,but it should be,since the same a lot of the actors in the live action features are in this one.i also found that the story,in addition to not being that interesting,was overly complicated and got bogged down quite a bit.there are some things which don't really seem to have context,and could have been left out.still,it wasn't anywhere near the worst movie i've seen.for me,Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms is a 5/10

I'm a fan of Hellboy. I'll get that out of the way first. But the Live Action movie was painful. So I wasn't surprised when I liked Sword of Storms better, but it was still sorely lacking.While I like that Hellboy got to swear occasionally, and I love the dialog, a lot of this movie seemed to fail to live up to the award-winning style and substance of Hellboy as a comic book. For one thing, the animation was a little childish to me. It seemed too much like they were watering down the Hellboy world to make it appealing to kids. Unfortunately, they then include a lot of blood and some swearing to make it inappropriate for kids. The dialog seemed very forced in some places, like the voice actors were just reading lines and not interested in the characters at all.Some of the little "episodes" that Hellboy goes through, though, are enjoyable. The scene where he faces the disembodied heads is almost straight out of the comic books, and the real highlight of this otherwise disappointing tale. What really damaged this movie for me, though, was the clumsy attempt at characterization. Liz Sherman woes about being pyknotic, the psychic guy is thoroughly annoying, and the big bad demons at the end are more reminiscent of stereotypical anime theme villains than actual threats to the world. While I applaud the attempt, this one just didn't work for me. I do hope they work a little harder on the next ones and really develop the potential they have here.