Wow, THAT was refreshing!

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2004)

From the opening gambit to the faultless and romantic close this is one amazing movie. If I did the ol' it's sort of like these two movies I'd vote for Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ghostbusters. Irreverent, silly and just plain child-like at times, the director sucks you into the story (I have never read the comic books so I have no comment about the faithfulness to the source) and he never lets go.
More, and more clearly presented plot than you'd find in half a dozen other comic-to-screen flicks. It is a testament to how stuff like this works best with great performances.
John Hurt is unrecognizable as Professor Bruttenholm (the older). David Hyde Pierce gives voice (while Doug Jones give form) to Abe Sapien and Selma Blair (whose charms have always eluded me) is appropriately world-weary and flawed.
But it is Ron Perlman's Hellboy that grounds the picture. He's a giant child in the body of a huge daemon. That he's surprised when someone helps him, that he takes relationship tips from a 9-year-old, that he is a contradiction and unsettled, and all through a boat-load of makeup and prosthetics -- amazing.
If I have a quibble, and I usually do, it is that the baddies don't get enough screen time. Not the creatures, the villains. There seems to be so much going on in Karl Roden's performance, but it is light and heat with nothing to stand upon.
Go for the laughs. Go for the special effects. Go for the camp factor. Stay and enjoy the human drama. Be blown away by the geek romance.

Great film.