Hellboy Animated films anyone?

Karl Hungus

So, I got around to watching the Animated Hellboy film Sword Of Storms today, which was very good. Nothing really amazing, and it's only 75 minutes long, but I really did enjoy it, it was well done and there was some excellent scenes of the title character fighting monsters, as one would expect. Ron Perlman provides the vocal duties, and he's as on form as ever.

Anyway, there's a trilogy of these Straight-to-DVD films in the works, with Sword Of Storms already out, Blood And Iron coming soon, and The Phantom Claw being rather far off in 2008, along with the sequel to the first live action film, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

I'm not so sure if anyone but people who are already fans of Hellboy would be into these, but I loved the film, and I really enjoyed Sword Of Storms. So it seems very much a more of the same kinda thing while we anticipate the big sequel.

Looking forward to Blood And Iron now.

Necronomicon

Yep I have Sword of Storms and I enjoyed it thoroughly, glad that Del Toro was on board producing and that Ron Perlman got on board to do the voice of Hellboy. Looking forward to the others. Not as much as I'm looking forward to the sequel to the live action movie though

da_deadman

Based on the above, I think I will have to check out these animated films. I really enjoyed the first live-action film, am looking forward to the sequel and had been wondering if these films would be any good or not. I think I'll trust the opinions of the first two posts and go watch Sword of Storms just as soon as I can...

... it's really annoying not having a dvd player for a while, it feels like a piece of me is missing

Necronomicon

da_deadman wrote:

Based on the above, I think I will have to check out these animated films. I really enjoyed the first live-action film, am looking forward to the sequel and had been wondering if these films would be any good or not. I think I'll trust the opinions of the first two posts and go watch Sword of Storms just as soon as I can...

... it's really annoying not having a dvd player for a while, it feels like a piece of me is missing

You're making the right choice

As mentioned in the OP, they probably wouldn't be for everyone, but if you liked Hellboy I think it's a pretty safe bet.

Karl Hungus

Necromomicon wrote:

Yep I have Sword of Storms and I enjoyed it thoroughly, glad that Del Toro was on board producing and that Ron Perlman got on board to do the voice of Hellboy. Looking forward to the others. Not as much as I'm looking forward to the sequel to the live action movie though

Yeah, Hellboy 2 will be the big one alright, but if Sword is anything to go by, the animated ones are a worthy addition to the mythos. Fits in very well with the feel of the film and comic books, and one thing that I really liked is the different visual style again, it's kinda carved out it's own look in that it's not copying the comics, nor the film.

One thing that was odd was that they had Doug Jones voicing Abe, when in the film, it was David Hyde Pierce voicing him, and Doug Jones playing the physical part.

da_deadman wrote:

I really enjoyed the first live-action film

Then you'll like the animated ones.

Karl Hungus

Oh, check it out, the trailer for Blood and Iron:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fVM0pTfQP4

That looks excellent! I'm really excited about that, and John Hurt is in it too.

Necronomicon

Karl Hungus wrote:

One thing that was odd was that they had Doug Jones voicing Abe, when in the film, it was David Hyde Pierce voicing him, and Doug Jones playing the physical part.

Ah I knew something didn't add up, I knew it was a different voice but when I saw it was Doug Jones I thought I was just imagining it, I forgot there were two actors for Abe in the movie (I heard that there were 3 different actors playing the character Kroenen, but couldn't find confirmation).

The trailer looks good! They're a nice way to bridge the gap between sequels. I hope Hellboy 2 does as well as the first and we can start talking about a third

I keep meaning to get more into the graphic novels, I've never actually read one. I do however have two of the books, The God Machine and Unnatural Selection, quite well written and in keeping with the general style of Hellboy.

Karl Hungus

Necromomicon wrote:

Ah I knew something didn't add up, I knew it was a different voice but when I saw it was Doug Jones I thought I was just imagining it, I forgot there were two actors for Abe in the movie (I heard that there were 3 different actors playing the character Kroenen, but couldn't find confirmation).

Yeah, but supposedly David Hyde Pierce refused a credit because he felt the character was all Doug Jones.

Kroenen was played by a Czech stuntman as far as I know, but 'voiced' by Guillermo Del Toro himself. I say 'voiced' though, as all he did was laugh creepily in one scene.

Necromomicon wrote:

I keep meaning to get more into the graphic novels, I've never actually read one. I do however have two of the books, The God Machine and Unnatural Selection, quite well written and in keeping with the general style of Hellboy.

Same here, I've only read "Wake The Devil" and I really mean to get more of 'em. Haven't read the books though.

Karl Hungus

Here's the Sword Of Storms trailer for anyone interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubh4cO_DiFo

gandalf

Kroenen is one of my all time favourite bad guys in a film. Must check these out, good call Karl.

Really looking forward to Hellboy2, it better have Nazi's in it

Karl Hungus

gandalf wrote:

Kroenen is one of my all time favourite bad guys in a film. Must check these out, good call Karl.

Really looking forward to Hellboy2, it better have Nazi's in it

Well, Kroenen doesn't appear in Sword Of Storms, but he is lined up for the second film.

gandalf

Excellent more Nazi's good

I have to get my hands on one of these at some stage as well.

Necronomicon

Karl Hungus wrote:

Yeah, but supposedly David Hyde Pierce refused a credit because he felt the character was all Doug Jones.

This is true. Well, I didn't hear why, but he is uncredited.

gandalf wrote:

I have to get my hands on one of these at some stage as well.

I have one It's not as easy to swivel as Kroenen makes it out to be though!

Saw it a few months back and loved it. Play has a pretty nice set for 28 euro. They also have a pretty cool Blood and Iron special DVD. Have had mine on order for the past month.
Saw it a few months back and loved it. Play has a pretty nice set for 28 euro. They also have a pretty cool Blood and Iron special DVD. Have had mine on order for the past month.

The reason David Hyde Pierce refused an onscreen credit was because he felt that Doug Jones did all the work and created Abe Sapian through his movements and expressions. He said all he did was sit in a booth and recite lines.

On a separate note, the Highlander anime Highlander: The Search for Vengeance is released next month. it’s directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri who did Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D.
The reason David Hypde Pierce refused an onscreen creit was because he felt that Doug Jones did all the work and created Abe Sapian through his movements and expressions. He said all he did was sit in a booth and recite lines.

ObeyGiant

I'm a big fan of the comics and I loved the movie, but I was extremely disappointed by Sword of Storms. It was a perfect Hellboy story, but I thought that the voice-acting was uninspired (especially from Selma Blair, who drawled her way through the entire thing), and the animation was far too cheap and nasty - sweat-shop animation - to 'suit' the character. I just don't think they captured the look and feel of the comic at all. Which is a shame.

Karl Hungus

ObeyGiant wrote:

I'm a big fan of the comics and I loved the movie, but I was extremely disappointed by Sword of Storms. It was a perfect Hellboy story, but I thought that the voice-acting was uninspired (especially from Selma Blair, who drawled her way through the entire thing), and the animation was far too cheap and nasty - sweat-shop animation - to 'suit' the character. I just don't think they captured the look and feel of the comic at all. Which is a shame.

That's odd, I felt Selma Blair was equally as ho-hum in the film aswell.

RuggieBear

i thought the sword of storms was poor....action was great but the storyline was cliche after cliche. got a bit boring for me.

ObeyGiant

Karl Hungus wrote:

That's odd, I felt Selma Blair was equally as ho-hum in the film aswell.

Maybe. I was having trouble seeing the film around my enormous boner.

film_gonzo

I must say I was very underwhelmed with the quality of animation in Sword Of Storms, especially with the standard that even Saturday morning kids cartoons work at nowadays.

And the story was poor, with no real running narrative. It just seemed like an excuse to get Hellboy into a series of well loved scrapes from the books and be damned with the bigger arc.

The voice acting I thought was fine and I especially thought Doug Jones did a fine job with Abe's voice. I really don't see the point of them replacing it in the movie. But I suspect it's the money men who make these silly demands on Del Toro.

Anyways for a much better Mignola cartoon I suggest checking out The Amazing Screw On Head.

Beautiful Mignola-esque animation. Humour galore and pitch perfect voice acting.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5434666681046246946&q=The+Amazing+Screw-On+Head

nesf

RuggieBear wrote:

i thought the sword of storms was poor....action was great but the storyline was cliche after cliche. got a bit boring for me.

Welcome to Hellboy?



Thanks for the recommendation Karl, will keep an eye out for them.