Overall pretty good, but with some piercing flaws

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2004)

Lets get the good out of the way first: The special effects are for the most part good, the acting is very, very good, and the story is good enough to act as a delivery system for the action. Yet, there are some problems:
1: Hellboy's tail shows up very rarely, and when its actually being used for something its done very well. However, sometimes, particularly the closing shot, it looks like its just been taped on there.
2: There's a very major plot hole: When Abe Sapien and the Professor are in the Museum, and using the bladed-truncheon to find out what happened that night to let the monster loose, they hear the ritual used to resurrect the evil beast thing. They especiallly hear the part about how when it dies, two more will be brought forth. Did they forget this seemingly crucial aspect of the monster, cause Hellboy found out about this much later on, en route to the final battle ground, and everyone is suprised when two of them show up in the sewers. This is the kind of plot hole that can really sour a film.
3: A lot of elements are thrown into the film, like the uber-evil-fighter guy being a puppet (which we find out in an absurd fashion), or Firestarter's powers being activated by pain, or Hellboy's immense love for kittens, that is seems like we're supposed to know all that already.
There are some other things, which border on the nitpicky side, so I'll just leave by giving it a 3/5.