Cthulu monsters and dead Nazis

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2004)

I went to see a sneak peek of Hellboy last night to say it kicked ass is to under state the movie. There as Lots of action, lots of comedy, a love story, , all in all a damned good movie.
Based on the comic by Mike Mignola Hellboy starts off with the Nazis and Rasputin the monk trying to raise seven dark squid like gods from the past who will devour the world so that they can rebuild it in their own image. A group of American G.I. and Professor Broom who is an expert on parapsychology stop them but not before something gets through the gate, a bright red little baby demon who likes Baby Ruth candy bars. Broom raises Hellboy as the G.I.s name him as his son teaching him right from wrong and to be a force of good. Hellboy is joined by fellow freaks, Abe Sapien a telepathic fish man and Selma Blair as the pyrocinetic Liz Sherman. They along with several FBI agents and Professor Broom keep the world safe for the rest of us by working for the Bureau of Paranormal research & Defense. `There are things that go bump in the night and we are the ones that bump back.'
Guillermo del Toro tells a great story you actually care about these characters and what they go through. I find this rare in B movies. I was expecting Blade 2 all over again great visuals but bad story line. Ron Pearlman was kind of playing Vincent (Beauty & The Beast) again but with a sense of humor seemed to really enjoy playing the great red ape who uses an angle grinder to keep his horns trimmed to fit in. He has a lot of great one liners and banter during combat that I would have liked to have seen in Spider Man. Doug Jones who plays Abe Sapien who was also voiced by David Hyde Pierce, did a wonderful job of being a fish man who craves rotten eggs. Selma Blair as Liz Sherman was also great as the troubled fire starter, don't call her that she doesn't like it. She is the love of Hellboy's life. I think what makes these characters stand out is that they have real problems and lives beyond the fact they have bizarre powers. Watching the big red guy trying to write love letters to her is quite funny. They have become a family of freaks that kick ass to save the world.
The CGI was actually fairly believable the sets really captured the darkness of the mood and the action was unbelievably fun. There wasn't a boring minute in this action packed romp. However there were a few things that bugged me a bit but they were not bad enough to keep me from enjoying the film. Mainly I just couldn't buy the pyrocinetic flames. It was the only CGI I found to be a off. I wanted to know why her clothes didn't burn when everything else around her did as well as Hellboy's clothes. Hell boy being a demon is of course immune to fire so he doesn't get burned. Although I'm kind of glad that his clothes didn't burn as I did not want to see a naked Hellboy.
It is not the comic exactly but Guillermo del Toro does capture the mood and feel of Hellboy so that it just doesn't matter.