ISSUE 20 - DVD REVIEW

Hellboy: Sword of Storms


Transferring a book or comic book to another medium is always a challenge, a challenge to both fans of the material and in the literal sense. What’s intriguing is the decision to purposely change the familiar appearance of Hellboy.
Sword of Storms is the first in a possible series of animated films based on Mike Mignola’s successful comic book, Hellboy. First pitched to Disney in the early 90’s as an animated X-Files, it was not picked up but later made into a successful film directed by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth). While not a children’s’ cartoon, it is aimed at younger viewers.
For the uninitiated, Hellboy was brought to earth from Hell by the Nazis during World War II. American soldiers stopped the Nazis and took Hellboy back home where he grew up at the center of a new government agency, the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Think Ghostbusters meets the C.I.A.
In Sword of Storms, a professor of Japanese mythology becomes possessed after opening a forbidden scroll. The B.P.R.D. sends Hellboy and fellow agents Abe Sapien and Liz to investigate. Hellboy is accidentally sent to a supernatural world after messing around with a cursed samurai sword.
The storyline is fairly generic, the hero stuck on a mystical quest, encountering one creature or creatures after the next. The sidekicks are off on an adventure of their own, trying to find Hellboy.
It’s difficult to bring the strange qualities of the comic to the animated medium. It takes more time than the production probably has time for. It still works, although lacking mood.
But if you’re a fan of the comics then this disc is worth the money. The animation is both good and bad. What works is the redesign (per the request of Mignola) of the main character. The look of the animated series is pleasing but the final result is reminiscent of old after school cartoon clunkiness. There are scenes when the animation feels twenty years old yet looks crisp and new. The colors are rich and vibrant and truly showcase the leaps and bounds animation has made in the last decade. However, while expecting Batman Animated, it was, in part, that series but also part He-Man.
Character design is a cross between Disney’s Atlantis and Pixar’s Incredibles with a dash of Dungeons and Dragons tossed in. Perhaps the biggest, and most welcome, surprise is that many of the actors from the film are on board to voice, Ron Pearlman, Selma Blair and John Hurt.
The disc, while relatively inexpensive, is loaded with extras, commentaries, art design and multiple interviews. There is also a 42 minute panel discussion at the San Diego Comic Con. In addition there is a mini comic inside. At Sam’s Club, the dvd comes with an additional 80 page mini graphic novel.

The second film, Blood and Iron, will be released in May 2007.


-Brian Tucker