Mike and Guillermo, keep up the good work!

Rating: 9/10 (12 July 2008)

An excellent cast, fantastic art direction, great camera-work (Guillermo Navarro shot the first Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth as well). After having seen the movie in the theater, I am most certainly looking forward to a DVD with the director's cut. A few subtle but noteworthy things I noticed. The elf city (or kingdom?) is called Bethmoora. This is the name from several stories of the early 20th century fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, where it is a great city on the edge of a desert, fallen into desolation. Also note the location where the Golden Army is hidden - Antrim County, Ireland. Lord Dunsany had a lot of kin there, although his most famous family castle (it's a museum now) - Trim Castle - is farther to the south. H.P. Lovecraft (whose work was one of the likely inspirations for the first Hellboy) considered Dunsany his teacher. One of the things Dunsany can be credited for is writing the first 20th century major work of fantasy featuring elves (pretty much the same know-it-all snooty kind as Tolkien elves). So, I wouldn't put it past Mignola and Del Toro to put in a subtle note of appreciation for the first great modern fantasy writer into their work. I also liked the hints at what might be future development of the series, but I am not sharing these here, to keep the review spoiler-free.