I am a big fan of the Hellboy feature film and you can count me as one of those people who just can’t wait for the next one. But, in the meantime, they’re putting out a series of straight to DVD, not quite full length feature animated Hellboy films (with the original cast doing the voices as well). The first one up to bat is “Hellboy: Sword of Storms“.
As with anything written by Mike Mignola (who is also the creator of Hellboy), the mythology and background story of Hellboy: Sword of Storms is rich and beautiful. The basic idea behind the film is this. Long ago, the demon brothers of Thunder and Lightning were causing havoc in the lands of a certain Japanese Lord. The Lord tried everything he could to stop them, but nothing could hinder the demons. Then, the Lord offered the demons his only daughter as a way to save his lands and his people. The Demons agreed. But, one of the Lord’s Samurai warriors was in love with his daughter and hid her away from the demons and then used an enchanted sword to defeat them in battle. The spirit of the demons were trapped in the sword. However, the Lord was humiliated because he had given his word to the demons, and now he had lost honor. So, he went on to kill both the Samurai and his daughter. Now, the sword is out, the demons want to get free and the only thing standing in their way is Hellboy.
Like I said earlier, the mythology that serves as the basis for the movie is beautiful. However, the execution of the movie itself didn’t come off quite as well. The voice acting wasn’t very good (even though it’s the same people from the movie), the dialog and some of the newer characters were flat and sometimes just downright annoying and the conclusion of the film just felt like it came up short… unsatisfying. Worst of all… the animation itself was terrible. They mix in 3d animation with traditional animation and the results are just distracting and laughable.
Overall, the idea behind Hellboy: Sword of Storms is rich enough to hold your attention and probably even enough to keep you mildly entertained. Just don’t expect to be blown away. This one is a renter… don’t waste your money on buying it because you’ll never watch it again. I’ll give Hellboy: Sword of Storms a 5.5 out of 10.
