Mike Mignola's Hellboy is a treasure among comics, both for its jovial quirk and its sublime hyper-contrasty visuals, both of which defy translation to the screen.
Guillermo Del Toro's 2004 feature film pulled this off to a certain extent, in no small part thanks to judicious casting (particularly Ron Perlman as our hero). The present experiment was designed as filler before the 2008 release of The Golden Army, and perhaps to probe audience interest in a longer-running animated spin-off.
After a nifty prologue introducing our redesigned protagonists - Hellboy has hoofs again, as in the comic - charges forth with an adventure encompassing Medieval Japan and a mystic sword, blending several genres with an ease that does the source material justice. Retaining the film's voice cast also gives this a sense of legitimacy and continuity.
The story and tone might put off some newcomers, but kudos to the producers for defending Hellboy's acquired taste status. Fans will also note that while the story is mostly original, a small episode with a group of flying heads follows one of Mignola's short stories to the letter.
What makes this fall short of classic cult status is the animation and visual style in general. Not only is this not the stuff to give Pixar or Disney sleepless nights, but with the comic's visual language so unique and compelling, why veer so far from it here? The earlier - and far superior - Mignola-penned Adventures of Screw-On Head is proof that the style is easily adaptable, so it's a shame not to see similar care here.
An interesting experiment, but sadly not all it could have been.
