I’ve mostly written about Marvel movies, but I think that I’ll try to write a few more reviews about other movies that I’ve been watching.
I saw Hellboy 1, I a few years ago, but I can’t remember if I saw it at the theater or on DVD. I thought Hellboy 1 was pretty good and Ron Perlman did an excellent job with the main character. I wasn’t familiar with the comic book story or plot, but the movie was entertaining enough. Once again, Ron Perlman did a great job as Hellboy. I know I’ve seen him in several movies before, but I just can’t name any off the top of my head.
A few years ago, I watched Pan’s Labyrinth on DVD. I thought that Pan’s Labyrinth was visually impressive, but the story didn’t seem to pull me in as much as other fantasy movies. Guillermo del Toro directed Hellboy 1, directed/wrote Hellboy 2, and directed/produced/wrote Pan’s Labyrinth.
In Hellboy 2, it appears if some of the creatures from Pan’s Labyrinth has been recycled for use with Hellboy 2. However, since very few have actually seen Pan’s Labyrinth, most probably didn’t see the similarities. By leveraging the technology and experience of Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro was able to use a lot more creatures and special effects in Hellboy 2 than Hellboy 1.
All of the special effects came off very clean, detailed, and impressive. I’d say that they even looked better than the animated creatures in the newest Star Wars movies (episodes 1-3, and the “re-touches” on the original movies).
The beginning of the movie shows a pre-teen Hellboy playing with Howdy Doody dolls and watching TV. I felt strange about this scene, since I really didn’t expect to see a pre-teen Hellboy. That scene was interesting and very comical to say the least.
At times, the movie was pretty entertaining and it never took itself too serious. It’s an entertaining and fun movie to see. And if you listen closely, you’ll notice that the voice of Dr. Krauss is Seth Macfarlane… Macfarlane is the creator of Family Guy, American Dad, etc. At first, I thought the voice was the same as Klaus, the German fish on American Dad, but after a quick search I discovered that it was just Macfarlane sounding like the guy who does the Klaus voice.
Dr. Johann Krauss was the only character that I didn’t care much for (nor could I get Klaus the fish’s image out of my thoughts whenever he spoke). When the character was first introduced in the movie, I had thought it was going to be one of Hellboy’s former German enemies from Hellboy 1 – which would have been an rather unique twist and uncomfortable situation for the group.
The enemy in the movie is an elven prince who does some pretty good fighting and acting scenes. The elven prince (along with most other creatures/ characters) reminded me a lot of Pan’s Labyrinth. It will be interesting to see how del Toro does on the Hobbit movies.
I thought that the creatures and CG was a bit overdone at times and the entire movie was a bit too fantasy for a modern day adventure for my tastes. An entire kingdom of elves, trolls, goblins, and other beasts living underground, sounds good for a JRR Tolkien-like fantasy movie, but I’ve always thought of this as more of a comic book, modern day, sci-fi/fantasy movie rather than the other type of fantasy movie with hobbits, elves, dwarves, etc.
IMDB gives the movie a 8.2/10 rating (with just over 5,500 votes).
Guillermo del Toro is also directing JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1 & 2) and one of the most famous Marvel characters Doctor Strange.
Hellboy is fun for sure; plus that director has an amazing imagination, reminds me of his work in Pan’s Labyrinth