Harry Potter meets The Lord of the Ring (rip-off version)

Rating: 5/10 (28 April 2011)

For what I remember, the first Hellboy was a dark and funny film, refreshing thanks to Hellboy's attitude and some nice designs. The creatures brought to memory Lovecraft and old, evil mysteries. This sequel is like a sloppy Disney movie. I'm not familiar with the Hellboy universe, although all those elves, trolls, and supposedly magical strange made up names had little to do with the feeling of darkness from the first movie. I had the impression of being watching a bad mix of Harry Potter and some other childish fantasy/rip-off where Hellboy just happened to be by chance. Don't get me wrong, I like crossovers. But this is absurd. The elves were nice though (prince and princess, marvelous make-up and acting/fighting), although the whole exotic elvish vocabulary mambo-jambo didn't convince me a bit. Too much of all that already. Then, the jokes seemed all to simple and re-used. Hellboy's attitude is still refreshing, but still, the script and crappy fairytale paraphernalia is too much for me. I wouldn't say it's a bad film. In any case, you certainly will enjoy it more if you are under 14 years old. I'll stick to those brilliant moments in the first film like Santiago Segura's cameo as the heroic train driver. Kids, you keep Hellboy II for yourselves.