Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006) (TV)

Directors:

Phil Weinstein
Tad Stones

Writers:

Mike Mignola (characters)
Mike Mignola (story)
(more)

Release Date:

28 October 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Hellboy travels to Japan to fight an ancient demon.

Plot Keywords:

Demon | Sword | Folklore | Combat | Spin Off

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Ron Perlman	...	Hellboy (voice)
Selma Blair	...	Liz Sherman (voice)
Doug Jones	...	Abe Sapien (voice)
Peri Gilpin	...	Professor Kate Corrigan (voice)
Dee Bradley Baker	...	Lightning / Kappa / Pilot (voice)
Kim Mai Guest	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michael Hagiwara	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Bureau Member / Pilot / Additional Voices (voice)
Liza Del Mundo	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Paul Nakauchi	...	Additional Voices (voice)
James Sie	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Mitchell Whitfield	...	Russell Thorne (voice)
Gwendoline Yeo	...	Kitsune (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yuriana Kim	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Directed by
Phil Weinstein
Tad Stones		(supervising)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mike Mignola		characters
Mike Mignola		story
Karen Inwood Somers		documentary material
Tad Stones		screenplay
Tad Stones		story
Matt Wayne		screenplay

Produced by
Morris Berger	....	executive producer
Stephen R. Brown	....	executive producer (as Stephen Brown)
Sidney Clifton	....	producer
Guillermo del Toro	....	creative producer
Stephanie Elliott	....	animation producer
Lawrence Gordon	....	executive producer
Scott D. Greenberg	....	producer
Scott Hemming	....	executive producer
John W. Hyde	....	executive producer
Lloyd Levin	....	executive producer
Mike Mignola	....	consulting producer
Mike Richardson	....	executive producer
Tad Stones	....	supervising producer
Michael Wolf	....	animation executive producer (as Mike Wolf)

Original Music by
Christopher Drake

Film Editing by
John Hoyos
Jeffrey Perlmutter

Production Management
John Hoyos	....	post-production supervisor

Art Department
Nathan Chew	....	storyboard artist
Andy Chiang	....	model designer
Sahin Ersöz	....	storyboard artist
Nir Paniry	....	storyboard artist
Adam Van Wyk	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Marti D. Humphrey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Chris M. Jacobson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Eric Lewis	....	dialogue recording engineer
Jason Oliver	....	supervising dialog editor
Wes Otis	....	sound editor
Jeff Shiffman	....	sound editor
Jody Thomas	....	foley artist
Otis Van Osten	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
Brent M. Bowen	....	visual effects
Harry Eisenstein	....	main title design
Carol VanHook	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Bryndon Smith	....	camera operator: video camera

Animation Department
Russell Calabrese	....	sheet timer
Andy Chiang	....	model designer
Eddy Houchins	....	sheet timer (as William Houchins)
Gordon Kent	....	timing director
Art Vitello	....	timing director
James T. Walker	....	sheet timer (as Tim Walker)
Jungja Wolf	....	sheet timer

Casting Department
Everett A. Oliver	....	casting coordinator

Music Department
Benjamin Stanton	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Other crew
Bradley Cooper	....	information technologies
Elaine De Mari	....	information technologies
Steve Fisch	....	business affairs
Rafael Hurtado	....	production coordinator
Steffie Lucchesi	....	retake & media coordinator
Charles McCaskill	....	information technologies
Ginny McSwain	....	voice director
Mike Medaris	....	information technologies
Janine Scalise	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• IDT Entertainment

Distributors

• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray) (double feature with "Hellboy Animated: Blood & Iron")
• IDT Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Dub Stage, The  sound re-recording

Also Known As:

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | USA:PG | New Zealand:M | South Africa:13V | Netherlands:12 | Australia:PG (TV rating)

Company:

IDT Entertainment

Trivia:

In the scene were Hellboy is talking to the Daimyo's daughter, the statue in the background is making a 'rock on' hand sign.

Goofs:

Continuity: We see the giant bat creature pin Abe to the ground, then the shot cuts away for a moment and then cuts back to the bat but Abe is now on his feet and several yards away from the creature when there wasn't time for him to get there.

Quotes:

Hellboy:[sarcastic] Gosh, Kate, I feel just awful dragging you away from rotting manuscripts and ancient texts. I mean, you used to research trolls!
Professor Kate Corrigan:It's okay. Now I get to work with one.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (2007) (TV)

Mixed results: promising, but slightly frustrating

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.