seltzer Review of Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms

Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006 TV Movie)

Great adaptation of comic and movie

[10/10 · 28 October 2006]

I was looking forward to this, and yet was still surprised to see it on TV so soon. I love the Hellboy comics and associated spin offs. I thought the movie was great, too. 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. The animation was great, reminding me both of the comic art by Mike Mignola and the Batman, Superman, and Justice League animated series. I was very entertained. 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.