A very good Movie that could have been Great!

Rating: 8/10 (3 April 2004)

This movie's strength was its quirkiness and this is where it's greatness lay. The story is a marvelous blend of metaphor and adventure involving an uncanny superhero, his efforts to please his father,his desire to be accepted by "normal people" and his distant love for his uncanny mutant girlfriend mostly seen through the eyes of his very human assistant. Outside of that core story is the greater adventure of good verses evil. It's a great comic romp with a beautiful and poignant end that brings home the metaphor it is portraying. But a little more pushing of the quirky envelope and a little more character development in Hellboy's relationship with his father, then this would have been a great movie! I hope they do a sequel and develop all the characters even more, because they are all memorable very human personalities.