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We saw Hellboy II last weekend. I wanted to see it, but had my doubts about it because the trailer seemed to show that the movie was more about visuals than it was about substance. In a way, I think my assessment was right, although the movie was better than I thought it would be.

This story isn't directly connected with that of the first Hellboy movie, which told the origins of its main character. Here, Hellboy and his team secretly fight evil creatures, but the big red guy wants to be able to go public with his personality. When he does, the public isn't so fond of him. Then, a prince from the other world decides to attack the people world (I'm using official terms, of course) because people have not kept their bargain from a treaty made long ago between humans and other creatures.

For the most part, I enjoyed this movie. It has a lot of great colors, great looking creatures, and some really awesome action sequences. My favorite scenes involve fighting the Golden Army and fighting the giant forest god (which was a scene that had more significance than any other to me).

I don't have anything against Doug Jones, but I do think that David Hyde Pierce's voice is very distinct, and was one of the things I loved the most in the first Hellboy movie. I did miss the presence of his voice, although it was nice to see Doug Jones take more ownership of Abe Sapien's character.

There are a few odd visual and musical choices in the movie. The opening scenes, with a flashback to Hellboy as a child, were good for the storytelling aspect, but Hellboy as a child was incredibly annoying, especially the fact that his mouth couldn't sync with what he was saying. As for musical choices, there were a few pieces used that didn't really fit in with the editing of the film very well. My sister and I love Travis, so when we heard the first notes of "All I Wanna Do is Rock" we got excited, only to find that the song was cut off before there was ever a chance for the music to make a connection with the story being told.

I also wish that this movie had done a little bit more with the character of Hellboy than it did. There were a few attempts to pose ethical conflicts, but when compared with the rest of the comic movies I've seen this summer, they didn't seem very significant. The baby angle seemed a little contrived to me, but I don't know if that's going to be a significant plot point in the next Hellboy installation, so I guess I can't complain too much yet.

Basically, the wonders of Del Toro's mind are beautiful to look at, and Hellboy II was a feast for the eyes, but not so much for the soul. It was a fun action movie, and I'm sure I'll watch it again one day, but it certainly isn't as good as the other big name movies coming out this summer.