Hellboy Animated : De sang et de fer

When a live-action movie comes out and then an animated TV movie, this leads mostly to the popular character having its own television series. But for Hellboy (2004), the iconic character went in this direction but then kind of just floated around. How Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006) did with viewings and ratings are a bit beyond my knowledge. After seeing it, it definitely did not feel like a total waste of time. It was by no means perfect with choppy animation, a confused demographic it was trying to attract and an undetermined setting of which it took place but it still had things to have fun in. If that warranted this second animated feature I'm not sure what the whole point of it was. Was it going to be a TV show or not? Or were they just made to hold over its fans for the upcoming sequel? I don't know, the reason seems unclear. So does this entry improve upon the last - not really. It's just more of the same brainless fun.

The story to this entry is about when the owner of a mansion begins to suspect it's haunted. When in fact it turns out years before Hellboy (Ron Perlman) was kicking demon's butts, Dr. Broom (John Hurt) had visited the mansion once before vanquishing an evil vampire queen named Erzsebet Ondrushko (Kath Soucie). Now, Dr. Broom suspects someone might be attempting to revive her. As an overall story, it is certainly not as sluggish in its pacing as Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006) was. It is a lot more straightforward with its execution. However, the timeline placement is now off. For the prior animated film, Dr. Broom was not seen, so it was assumed what was depicted was after Hellboy (2004). But for this viewing, Dr. Broom is around so this must be before the first live-action film. I guess the writer Kevin Hopps is just picking random stories.

The only part of the writing that isn't clear is a subplot involving Hellboy confronting his destiny with some goddess named Hecate (Cree Summer). It's brought up first at the beginning and then flies in from left field right at the finale. It feels almost unnecessary with how little it has to do with anything else. The characters are still as likable as ever and there's a more of an exclusive cast of voice actors this time around as well. Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones and John Hurt all return as their respective characters and they do a fine job at it. Peri Gilpin as Erzsebet sounds convincing in her role as a deadly youth obsessed vampire. Even Cree Summer as the other goddess sounds fairly terrifying. But the fun part is when you can also pick out the characters that are voiced by Rob Paulsen and Jim Cummings. You just can't go wrong with such talents as those.

When it comes to action, these sequences contain the required energy to keep the movie moving. And considering its Hellboy, there needs to be enough action. Hellboy's has to be punching something at some point and making a wisecrack. The interesting thing is, the violence in this motion picture is even more graphic and edgier than Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006). There's animated blood all over the place in this entry. But this isn't the only thing that makes it edgy. There's also a slew grotesque imagery, dead people and a fair share of nudity with demons and voluptuous figures. Is it just me or did the animators really not think this through on who this feature film is designated for? The other animated film could be seen as a movie for both old and young ages, but this one totally denies any presence of a viewer younger than 13. The directors to this movie was Victor Cook (Dante's Inferno (2010) and Tad Stones (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)) of which they direct it fine but represent two opposite sides of the demographic for animated films.

The only thing worth picking on here is the animation, which is again choppy in areas. The only sections that look decently animated are the entertaining action sequences. Other than that, all other animated scenes have rigid character movement in body parts and mouth movement. It's a shame when you have animators like Kirk Tingblad and Andy Chiang who have worked on numerous animated projects and yet here it doesn't feel polished. The final component to the movie that does feel well put together is the film score composed by Christopher Drake. Just like Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006), Drake maintains Marco Beltrami's main theme for the franchise and even uses some quite horrifically good sounding tunes to amp up the atmospheric setting at which the story takes place. It's still fun but not any different from before.

This feature film is about the same compared to Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006), with the same choppy animation (except for the action sequences), unclear timeline placement and an unfinished subplot. Yet, the voice cast is still fun to listen too, the edgy tone and violence is respectable along with the appropriate music. The demographic seems more adult focused here than the last one.

This time Hellboy and his team square off against the gothic horrors of Vampires, witches, wolves and a cult of Hecate.

I loved this. All of the action is tied intrinsically into the story and it all serves to either propel the narrative, flesh out characterizations, or resolve issues from the past. Sometime all three simultaneously.

Each player gets a chance to shine and it never feels overstuffed.

Another point in it's favor; the stakes feel real. I was genuinely concerned for the characters safety. Even Hellboy who is generally treated a bit like The Tick in that he is nigh invulnerable. You usually never worry about him because he is so resilient, but here he meets his match. In fact it's more than his match.

A Terrific chapter that makes me wish there were more of these animated features.

After being a little disappointed with Sword of Storms, Blood and Iron makes up for it with a darker story, better voice acting, and a far less irritating music score. The movie begins with Hellboy beating down a monster, which is kinda what he does, and getting the crap beaten out of him while it happens, which is also kinda what he does. Afterwards, we're treated to a surprisingly layered story involving Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy's "father" essentially, an old vampire, and the witch-goddess Hecate. Caught in the middle is this old priest who lost his faith, which gives the story a good grounding that Sword of Storms lacked. It's much less of a "Let's kill the bad monster" story, and brings a very human element to the equation. The story also leaves out the ham-handed character development seen in Sword of Storms, for a much grittier, more subtle, and believable portrayal. My main criticism would be the inclusion of the "human metal detector" guy. He's not particularly helpful or necessary to the story. He actually serves to water down some scenes that were building real suspense. They also could have done a better job setting up Hecate as a character. She comes off as another monster, but her motivations don't quite work for me. Overall, I think Blood and Iron is a step in the right direction, and worth seeing at least once. It's a must-see for fans of the comic book, and anyone disappointed with the live action movie.

Sword and Stones was a good film, don't get me wrong. Tad Stones and Mike Mignola are really trying hard to make Hellboy a house hold name. Since the movie came out, I have been trying to read every comic and watch anything that remotes to the character.

But the problem with that film, and this one Blood and Iron, is the script and acting itself. We got a lot of great voice talent here like John Hurt, Ron Perlman, and Selma Blair. But with choppy dialog's (it seems like Ron only says 'crap' in both films), and just a sense of uninterest with the actors itself; it makes it a bit of a downer to watch.

The animation is great, the material is incredible. Although reworked for filming, there is a TON of comic references in both films. I just think that in order for this franchise to work, we need a better script. And try and make it more livier with the actors. It needs just abit more hard work to make this a great thing. Here's to the next film, The Phantom Claw.

In '39, a young Bruttenholm(who was fighting off a helium addiction at the time... OK, what is probably actually the case is that they tried to fiddle with the recordings so he'd sound like the age he was supposed to be, and it was a horrible result... it's perfect when they don't, however... he's the one kind of Hurt I love) put down the vampire Erzsebet(this is gone over near the opening, and then further details are added on by several flashbacks over the course of this... and they, for some reason, decided to put these back into chronological order(would you do that with Pulp Fiction? If you would, don't go near that film again), in the 20 and a half minute extra Reversal of Fortune: Professor Broom's Story. Today, it appears that some of her followers are attempting to bring her back, at the newly acquired haunted mansion owned by a millionaire. A ton of ghosts and a phantom wolf pack are among the supernatural entities they meet there, and Hellboy himself(who also fights a minotaur, in the first bit... and it has Mr. Wink's hand, and it's far cooler here than in the second flick) is challenged by Hecate, Goddess of Witches, on his purported destiny to lead to the destruction of mankind. The entire team(joined by a Human Metal Detector(!), who wanted to experience something... and he might just get his wish) is together in this one, all of them with something to do, and all of them worried about Trevor, who hasn't been on an active mission for a decade and a half, and insisted on going on this one. At 73 minutes, this is quite well-paced, keeping you watching throughout. This is superior to Sword of Storms. Part of it is that there is only one plot, and it's connected(as opposed to the many small ones they tried to cover up not having to do with each other in that one), it's compelling(she drinks the blood of young women to remain youthful forever), and because of the time dedicated to it, we really delve into it, and get into themes of good and evil, faith, and magic. The characters are great, and the acting is excellent for everyone involved. Blair did it right in this one, don't know what happened last time... maybe she just needed to get into it? There is action in this, not as frequent as the other(this is closer to thriller in that respect), and this is definitely first and foremost horror. It's atmospheric(taking an appropriate amount of time establishing the apparitions and mood of the place), creepy and there are some nicely done jumpscares and spooky sequences. This is locked into one location, with leaps in time(back and forth between the two periods), sharpening its focus. The animation is well-done, with a few stand-outs visuals. Creature design and the like are memorable. Dialog and humor are marvelous, this is yet again very funny. You can follow this reasonably without knowing much about the movies or graphic novels. There is some violent and disturbing content in this, and a little mild to moderate language. The DVD comes with an informational, interesting commentary track(Mike Mignola, Tad Stones and Victor Cook), two featurettes that I will review on their own pages here on this site: the 13 minute Tales From The Tomb: A Look Inside Blood Iron & Iron and the 3 and a half minute Iron Shoes: The Animated Debut and Penanggalan: An E-Comic Exclusive From Mike Mignola(what? I don't have the credentials to critique it). I recommend this to fans of the franchise. 7/10