Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms

Plot synopsis:
The film starts in the middle of an unspecified mission which sees Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien battling bat-worshipping Mayan zombies who are led by a gigantic zombie bat. The group are eventually able to defeat their opponents when Liz unleashes her pyrokinetic powers, although she is still unsure of her ability to control her powers.
Meanwhile, Japanese folklore expert Professor Sakai obtains an ancient scroll containing the myth of two demonic brothers, Thunder and Lightning. Hundreds of years ago, the brothers roamed the earth, unleashing storms on the lands of a Japanese Lord. In exchange for mercy, the Lord promised to give them his beautiful daughter. One of the Lord's samurai warriors was in love with the daughter and hid her in a shrine to protect her. Armed with the Sword of Storms, a mystical sword imbued with an ancient spell to defeat Thunder and Lightning, the warrior fought the brothers and trapped both demons' spirits in the sword. Although his lands and daughter had been saved, the Lord was not pleased since the warrior's actions meant the Lord had broken a promise. In an act of vengeance, the Lord summoned the gods to turn the warrior to stone and then killed his daughter in the shrine.
In current-day Japan, Professor Sakai is possessed by the spirits of Thunder and Lightning while reading the scroll. The demonic brothers send the professor in search of the mystical sword. After he attacks the sword collector who currently owns the sword, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is alerted and Hellboy, Kate Corrigan, and a psychic named Russell Thorne are called in with a team to investigate. During the investigation, Hellboy picks up a discarded katana and vanishes to another dimension that is reminiscent of ancient Japan. Hellboy meets a wise kitsune, who tells him that the sword he holds is the Sword of Storms and that the goal of his journey lies to the west. Hellboy travels through the alternate universe and learns that he can only return to his own world by breaking the sword, although that will also free the demonic brothers. Along the way Hellboy encounters several mythical Yōkai, sent by the still possessed Professor Sakai, who try to steal the sword from him, including the kappa, a trio of rokurokubi, a group of nukekubi, a Jorōgumo, Gashadokuro, tengu, Yomotsu-shikome, and the restless ghost of the Lord's daughter. Hellboy is able to outsmart or defeat all of them.
Meanwhile, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman are called to the sites of disturbing earthquakes and discover that Thunder and Lightning are summoning their brothers, the dragons. They meet the same kitsune who guided Hellboy and are instructed to stop the dragons. One of the dragons attacks them but Liz manages to hold it back using her pyrokinetic abilities.
Professor Sakai, in the meantime, has gone to the shrine where the Lord killed his daughter, followed by Kate and Russell who have just survived an attack by several objects from Japanese folklore. At the same time, Hellboy is tricked into destroying the sword by the giant Oni (who faded away before the final blow can be struck) which releases Thunder and Lightning, frees Professor Sakai, and sends Hellboy to the shrine as well. Hellboy eventually manages to trap both spirits in the sword again. As a result, the dragons are sealed back into the underworld. The ghosts of the daughter and the Lord possess Kate and Russell, in order to replay the daughter's execution. Hellboy accidentally frees the ghost of the samurai warrior from its stone form and then convinces the Lord to forgive his daughter and the warrior, thereby breaking the cycle of their unending deaths. The spirits depart, thankful to Hellboy and the others for helping them.

Tags: violence

Review:
This cartoon version did a great job of bringing the feel of the comic to life, and as a bonus, Ron Perlman and Selma Blair from the movie version do the vocal work of their characters, respectively Hellboy and Liz Sherman.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Doug Jones, who played Abe Sapien in the film but did not get to voice his character, which was done nicely by David Hyde Pierce, actually provides the voice for Abe Sapien here, and does a great job, too.
The story is good, and much like the comic, focuses on the paranormal aspects of myth and folktale, in this case involving a Japanese sword.
If you like either the comics or the movie, you should check it out, and if you like stories involving the paranormal a la the X-Files, you may very well love Hellboy, who brings a neat twist to investigating the paranormal..
The latest incarnation of the Mike Mignola's once underground, now seemingly omnipresent and unstoppable, comic book masterpiece, 'Hellboy', now comes into the world of animation.
The first of the several planned animated films, 'The Sword of Storms' takes Hellboy and drops him in a fantasy world of Japanese folklore.
Ron Perlman has now become the de facto voice of Hellboy, and if this ever becomes an animated series, his presence will be crucial for its success.
Some of these action sequences are great fun but it all gets repetitive so that the overall effect is episodic and only occasionally compelling (I'm going to mention "Heads" again here  that segment is excellent).
The other half of the film deals with Abe and Liz, but they are not given much to do, and their action sequences are nowhere near as interesting as Hellboy's.
Hell-No. I get the feeling that this "Hellboy Animated" movie only materialised to cash in on the popularity of the live action movie.This seems to be a prequel to the first Hellboy movie, but it lacks the sense of grandeur that the first, or Golden Army, had.
It feels like a "just another day on the job" accounting of one of Hellboy's more interesting paranormal cases, which in this case involves a plot by some Japanese demons to enslave the world and the key to stopping them lie in the form of an ancient Samurai Blade.
The plot weaves in and out, cutting between Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman responding to some anomaly in the ocean, 2 BPRD agents tracking down a possessed Professor and Hellboy lost in the Japanese backwoods with the Samurai Sword.
There is a romantic subplot involving an ancient samurai and his ghostly lover but it is not like the romance in the live action movie, more closer to Saturday morning cartoon style of romantic relationships.
One would think that Mike Mignola's streamlined art style, minimalist colouring and dark, grim and quirky visuals form the comic book would be easy to adapt to animation.
They were able to capture Mignola's art style perfectly with "The Amazing Screw On Head" that was released a month earlier from Hellboy Animated.
The movie captures the quirkiness of the comics very well and the actors from the film reprise their roles, lending to the feel of continuity.
If you can get pass the overall under-budgeted look and cheap-o feel of the animation then make your way through one mess of a story smelling like cheese, you got a really entertaining animated movie on your hands.
Live action translates perfectly into animation in this feature-length Hellboy adventure.
A lot of animated spin-offs in the past have proved to be just as good when taken seriously by the makers (Animatrix, Spider-Man) but, in my opinion, Hellboy: Sword of Storms was good enough for a theatrical release.
Don't expect 'saturday morning' style animation here.If you are seriously into Hellboy or even if you are just a casual fan of the movie then you totally have to get this.
Despite having most of the same voice actors, don't come into this movie expecting it to be a translation of the live film.Artistically, it's pretty great stuff.
Animation's kinda choppy in places, but nothing too bad.I kinda wish the script and voice acting really stepped up to plate; despite its efforts there was only one line in the whole film I really laughed at.
Not a fan of this animation style, the proportions between the character were way off from the movie and the voice acting was terrible.
It was a nice touch to use some of the same voice actors from the films, but when the actors don't give a great performance in live action what makes them think there voice work will be better.
But if this is really a better representation of the comic books then I'll just stick to the live action movies..
Not being a fan of the Hellboy franchise I might be a bit bias here but I gave this animated effort a go and walked away rather unimpressed.First of all I was struck how childish it all was, this is closer to a Saturday morning cartoon than an anime or anything of Hellboys general demographic.Thankfully the full movie cast do in fact reprise their roles which certainly gets it points.The story however gets few, being an over convoluted tale of Japanese demons trapped within a samurai sword.The fanbase is clearly there, writing this in 2017 and people are still pining for a third movie.I'd say this is one for the Hellboy fans and the Hellboy fans alone.The Good: Original cast The Bad: Liz & Abe look weird Story simply isn't very good Weirdly "Kiddie" Things I Learnt From This Movie:Nothing, I just had it reconfirmed that I find Hellboy a bit of a bore.
Supposedly only 75 minutes long, but it feels nearly twice that, Sword of Storms is exactly what you don't want the Hellboy movie to be.
It manages the trifecta of bad animated movies, to wit:1.) Bad Voice-Acting - Someone apparently told Selma Blair to growl all her lines (deadpan), and while Perlman and Doug Jones were great, they weren't enough to make up for the rest of the straight-to-video players.
I really don't need to hear Phil Lamarr do his stock suburban white kid voice ever again.2.) Clunky, Boring Animation - I can accept that the native Hellboy style probably wouldn't work in an animated movie, but why would you go with this?
I wouldn't be surprised if Sword of Storms shares an animation studio with Ultimate Avengers, it's crap.3.) More minutes than story - There's a gigantic lull in this movie, worse than any Bond Film, nestled neatly between the beginning and end.
not quite as sweet as the movie, but pretty darn close- should definitely appease fans of the comic book.
Hellboy: Sword of Storms is in the quality of animation no more or less the standard one might see on the average program on Adult Swim (Cartoon Network, of course).
Hellboy gets swept up this time in a pretty convoluted (or just seems that way, turns out it's actually painfully simplistic in terms of the Japanese folklore played out as drama), with monsters and demons all under the control of a sword that if broken spells doom for the Earth.
As usual he does his job well at whacking around creatures like a big turtle/lizard creature, and at the start even tackles a big beast that, until Liz- as kind of a running un-funny gag- blazes fire all over the place till the job's done- but that's not all.This time the supernatural is accentuated in the world of what is a cross between Noh theater and, well, the average Hellboy comic-book.
I also liked the little asides with the talking fox, the old lady, and of course the big-ass demons, who allow one or two quips from Hellboy as he has to tackle them any way possible.
On top of the fighting heads, there's a crazy possessed researcher, which in and of itself could make an interesting issue in the comics.Only the conventions of the story (the psychic has been seen in countless permutations of the annoying side character who's only there for moments of sudden exposition for another side character who isn't as annoying; plus the ending with the Japanese ghosts going through a redemption moment) drag the film really downward.
Animation is nice, with some visual ingenuity and use of colors to set tone(this is effective at being creepy, at establishing mood and at very sharp turns in our perception of something as a positive or negative presence) if nothing terribly creative about the camera-work and editing(considering the possibilities, when one doesn't have the laws of physics that constrict live features).
The DVD comes with slightly longer extras put together than the picture itself: An informational commentary track by Mike Mignola, Tad Stones, Phil Weinstein, and interesting featurettes: 42 and a half minute Keepers of Hellboy(the first scene of the film, then a panel of the creators of this at a con), To Hell & Back(10 minutes), Conquering Hellboy: The Actor's Role(6 and a half minutes), View From The Top(5 and a half minutes), A New Breed(5 minutes), Hellboy Goes East: Tail Spin(3 minutes), Hellboy Goes East: Samurai Songs(3 minutes), Hellboy Goes East: Prop Prefecture(2 and a half minutes) and Hellboy Goes East: Origins(2 and a half minutes).
The present experiment was designed as filler before the 2008 release of The Golden Army, and perhaps to probe audience interest in a longer-running animated spin-off.After a nifty prologue introducing our redesigned protagonists - Hellboy has hoofs again, as in the comic - charges forth with an adventure encompassing Medieval Japan and a mystic sword, blending several genres with an ease that does the source material justice.
Retaining the film's voice cast also gives this a sense of legitimacy and continuity.The story and tone might put off some newcomers, but kudos to the producers for defending Hellboy's acquired taste status.
So I wasn't surprised when I liked Sword of Storms better, but it was still sorely lacking.While I like that Hellboy got to swear occasionally, and I love the dialog, a lot of this movie seemed to fail to live up to the award-winning style and substance of Hellboy as a comic book.
The dialog seemed very forced in some places, like the voice actors were just reading lines and not interested in the characters at all.Some of the little "episodes" that Hellboy goes through, though, are enjoyable.
Liz Sherman woes about being pyknotic, the psychic guy is thoroughly annoying, and the big bad demons at the end are more reminiscent of stereotypical anime theme villains than actual threats to the world.
to me,this is animated Hellboy feature is a mixed bag.firstly, i thought the story was pretty slow.the concept was interesting,but it didn't translate well onto the screen.some of the animation was pretty good,and some of it was pretty poor.the fight scenes were pretty good,i'll admit,and there were some funny bits.the voice acting was good,but it should be,since the same a lot of the actors in the live action features are in this one.i also found that the story,in addition to not being that interesting,was overly complicated and got bogged down quite a bit.there are some things which don't really seem to have context,and could have been left out.still,it wasn't anywhere near the worst movie i've seen.for me,Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms is a 5/10.
"Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms"- A fun little diversion that entertains Hellboy fans and newcomers alike despite admittedly having some big flaws..
The first of two animated features starring the big, red demon- turned- good-guy himself, "Sword of Storms" is a fun little diversion for fans of action and adventure, and for that kid inside all of us.
Though it most certainly isn't without its own series of flaws and issues that holds it just a bit shy of being fantastic.Featuring voice-over work by cast-members of the two big-screen Hellboy flicks and featuring producers Guillermo del Toro (director of the live-action movies) and Mike Mignola (original creator of the character), this is definitely a worthy way to expand the overall media franchise.
Especially when combined with the talents of director Tad Stones (creator of "Darkwing Duck" and producer/director/storyboard artist on numerous other cartoon productions), who is a great fit for the material.While investigating a new case with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is magically transported to a mystical kingdom populated with various monsters, creatures and forces straight out of Japanese folklore.
While fellow agents Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) try to solve the mysteries at-hand, Hellboy must battle through this strange new world in order to get home and help his allies stop a much larger threat.While it is decidedly far more friendly towards older children and young teens than the comics or big-screen adaptations ever were, it's still a fairly appealing movie and even as someone in his late 20's, I still eat it up whenever I pop in my copy.
It may be a bit too intense for particularly younger kids (I wouldn't really recommend it or its follow-up to anyone under 8, personally), but it's still something that I think the whole family could get a kick out of.The voice-over work is quite good and helps usher in audiences familiar with the live-action films, particularly Ron Perlman, who I'm convinced could play Hellboy in his sleep.
(It's a role he was born to play, though he tragically has only had the chance to play him a handful of times between the films and animated features.) Blair and Jones are also a lot of fun.Though don't be confused- this is definitely a new "continuity" and "canon" and isn't a direct follow-up to the movies.
(As creator Mike Mignola has been pretty adamant that any adaptations across different media do their own thing and reinterpret his characters in new ways.)The story is fun, many of the sequences are quirky and reminiscent of works like "Alice in Wonderland" or "Wizard of Oz", and it's very solidly directed.
Also, the score by Christopher Drake is very nice and I really appreciated that he incorporated some of the themes composed by Marco Beltrami for the original live-action movie.That being said, there are some flaws.
It's interesting because this could have been like that but there are some things holding it back too.It's difficult to say what time this installment of Hellboy takes place.
Just because it's not live-action doesn't mean the story can't continue from the events of the last movie.
Hellboy ends up being caught up in a mystical world where he has to find his way out and it takes up the majority of the movie.
This is where it feels slow - even for a little over 70 minutes.Another problem in this feature is the animation itself.
Dark and creepy cartoons are not as common among animation movies so that's a plus.For voice acting is definitely smart of the casting department to grab ahold of Ron Perlman and Selma Blair.
The same also should've gone for David Hyde Pierce who voiced Abe Sapien from the live-action run.
Nothing on Doug Jones who was the physical representation of Abe, but Pierce has always been the voice of scientific sounding characters.
When the live action movie came out I liked it, but thought it could've been a lot better.
This movie, however, gave me the "a lot better" that I was hoping for: really fun and interesting MYTHOLOGICAL story (with interesting little bits of cultural details like the comics always have); interestingly plotted story that cuts backward and forward in time in a smart and engaging way; lots of cool, scary bad guys; and better written dialog than I thought the live action had, including better one-liners from HB.I watched it with my six year old boy - checking in with him and explaining stuff if I felt nervous that he might be scared by anything in it - and he loved it too.
I think it a great HB movie for a wide age range - again, like the comics.The animation was sharp and detailed, but I kind of wished that the character designs and background work came closer to Mignola's originals.
i luckily(?) rented this movie, and tried to watch it but couldn't do this in chunks of any more than a few minutes at a time and did not make it to the end there were several reasons for this:-the voice overs were just absolutely rubbish.
The animation in this movie is nearly spot on but is still good in it's own way the story is nice and easy to follow and has some good action sequences that hellboy is famous for.
The designs for this movie look amazing even tho it's animation i really thought that those were really locations overall this is a good spin off film that really enjoyed watching..
This is a scientific fact; even the critics who disliked the 2004 live-action 'Hellboy' admitted that Perlman owned the screen.
So, now we have the animated 'Sword of Storms', and it's a great first outing in what I hope will become a regular series.Beginning with a great action sequence where Hellboy (Perlman again), fish-man Abe Sapien (voice of Doug Jones), and pyrokinetic Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) fight a giant bat god and some Mayan zombies, the film rockets towards Japan, where a professor has become possessed by the demons Thunder and Lightning.
Perlman once more owns the movie as the voice of Hellboy, and his laid-back attitude to all the weirdness surronding him is hilarious.
Doug Jones is very good as Abe Sapien; in the live-action film, an uncredited David Hyde-Pierce voiced Abe, and while Pierce did a good job, Jones brings an everyman likability to the role.