Surprisingly Effective Richly Textured Story

Rating: 10/10 (19 June 2006)

Amazingly effective for a movie based on a comic book. There's an amazing depth to the characterization of Hellboy, no doubt in large part due to the superb talents of Ron Perlman in the lead role, and having John Hurt to play his adoptive father didn't hurt either. The story resonates on many levels, the love angle works brilliantly - the very passably mainstream girl he's in love with has her own issues to deal with.
AND the makeup and special effects are awesome, it really makes me wish I'd gone to see it on a big screen. I've been a huge stop motion fan since I was a kid, and the creature animation thoroughly ROCKS.