Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

the audience applauded

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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. The voice acting is excellent. 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. More surprisingly, considering her usually rather flat and whiny voice, Selma Blair delivers a finely nuanced performance. The best of all however, is Doug Jones. Seemingly perennially cursed by his background as a mime, the man has been seen in several great films in recent years but never heard. He has a pleasant, deep-ish voice, which entirely suits Abe Sapien. David Hyde Pierce acquitted himself well in Hellboy but will not be missed in the sequel. Hopefully Mr Jones' fine performance here will encourage studio execs to leave him be as the voice of the Silver Surfer. The character designs are deliberately different from Mignola's and in my opinion, that is a smart decision. Hellboy himself remains relatively faithful to the original concept, but shown in a more stylised form, reminiscent of Bruce Timm's drawings. For the most part, this works, apart from an occasional slip where Hellboy's face takes on an exaggerated facial expression, lapsing into caricature. Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman and a few of the supporting characters are more radically redesigned and remind of the current pseudo-manga style of 'The Batman' or 'Jackie Chan Adventures'. Personally, I am not a great fan of this particular approach, but I acknowledge it is popular and in context, effective. Mike Mignola's original drawing style is not completely ignored and is most clearly evoked in the design of Hellboy's various skeletal and monstrous opponents. There are also some attempts to emulate the comic's use of shadows (most notably in the "Heads" sequence). There are however, some problems. The animation itself is very hit and miss, and apart from the already mentioned weird facial expressions, there are occasional strange and unnatural movements from the characters. Some scenes feature noticeably poorer animation quality than the overall film. They appear jerky and cheap and look as though they were completed in a rush. The plot itself is not overly engaging. Although a story about cursed ancient lovers shows promise, it is severely underdeveloped, in favour of some nonsense about Thunder Gods and Dragons. The majority of the actual film shows Hellboy wandering around Wonderland (or something), fighting assorted monsters. 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. There is some attempt to deal with Liz's distrust of her powers but it largely falls flat, especially compared to the comics and film. However, the fact that there is some characterisation at all, as well as the presence of some rather mature themes and some unflinching violence mark this as more than just a kids-only film. Hopefully, the creators are just hitting their stride, and some of the wrinkles will be ironed out by the next instalment.

Mike Mignola's Hellboy is a treasure among comics, both for its jovial quirk and its sublime hyper-contrasty visuals, both of which defy translation to the screen. Guillermo Del Toro's 2004 feature film pulled this off to a certain extent, in no small part thanks to judicious casting (particularly Ron Perlman as our hero). 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. Fans will also note that while the story is mostly original, a small episode with a group of flying heads follows one of Mignola's short stories to the letter. What makes this fall short of classic cult status is the animation and visual style in general. Not only is this not the stuff to give Pixar or Disney sleepless nights, but with the comic's visual language so unique and compelling, why veer so far from it here? The earlier - and far superior - Mignola-penned Adventures of Screw-On Head is proof that the style is easily adaptable, so it's a shame not to see similar care here.An interesting experiment, but sadly not all it could have been.

Live action translates perfectly into animation in this feature-length Hellboy adventure. What makes it even better is that the main cast return to do the voices and Marco Beltrami's main theme is used. 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. A small one, like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.The story has HB, Liz and Abe go to Japan where a local historian has gone missing and a priceless exhibit damaged. While at the scene, HB wanders off, following a strange Fox and ends up trapped somewhere in time. Liz and Abe have no idea where he is but have their own problems to deal with as the weather takes a turn for the worse.Stuck in ancient Japan, HB must deal with a bunch of vampires, demons and monsters in an effort to get home. Easier said than done.I liked the movie, but felt it lacked something. Still, it made me interested in the character, even though I have yet to buy a single Hellboy comic book. After watching this however, I can't wait to get some more of HB. The animation style follows that of the comic pretty closely and the color pallet ranges from very bright and very colorful to moody and atmospheric. It's very impressive and highly detailed. 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. I eagerly await Hellboy: Blood and Iron, due out this summer. In the meantime, I reckon I ought to get me some Hellboy comic-books.

Ron Perlman is awesome as Hellboy. 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. The demons were trapped in the Sword of Storms, and Hellboy is transported to a mythological Japanese world when he picks up the sword. Now the big red guy must deal with floating heads, spider-women, kappas, and Thunder and Lightning themselves in a battle to (recite in unison) save the world.First things first: The animation itself is pretty sweet. The action is kinetic and exciting, and I loved just how odd some of the creatures Hellboy faced were. Seriously, how can you not like floating heads that demand to know where Hellboy has hidden their bodies? True, there are times where the character movements are a tad jerky, but it's splendid overall.The same goes for the voice acting. 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. I liked Peri Gilpin as Hellboy's friend Agent Kate Corrigan (I hope we see more of this character in the future) and the miscellaneous characters are voiced well. Selma Blair, on the other hand, does not fare so well as Liz; she seems bored, frankly, and bored is not the same as the laid-back attitudes of Perlman and Jones.Despite a fairly episodic plot, and the aforementioned lackluster Selma Blair, 'Sword of Storms' is extremely entertaining, and it gives me high hopes for the future.