More Cartoon Hellboy
Oh yeah, I watch cartoons.
If it were up to me, I would watch a string of them for a Saturday morning line-up on weekends. But that’s just a mild childhood dream some time away. And those memories seem long and gone.
But now I’ve got another reason to be catching up with the animated mayhem jumpstarted by the Hellboy cartoons routinely shown on Cartoon Network Cartoon. Yesterday, the new animated feature came to DVD in the form of the story Blood and Iron.
The work is edgy, stark, with clear cut animated sequences that makes it look modern-day. Yet there’s a feeling of the gothic that paints the scenery, the shroud of blackness tumbles with a spell of atmosphere.
What’s more important is the mainstay of actors who participate in the voiceovers. They’re all here. Selma Blair and Doug Jones return as supporting characters who help Hellboy fight a horde of demons and creatures that go bump in the night. There’s the irreplaceable Ron Perlman as Hellboy himself, the blighted red, oversized demon with a mighty red hand of doom that’s just a foreshadowing of things to come.
Then there’s John Hurt who returns as the character of Professor Bruttenholm, the surrogate father to the red, jolly giant. Persuading someone like Hurt to come back to do some voicing must take some skill. He’s an actor of enormous caliber. He’s someone of great repute who brings something extra to the cartoon story of Blood and Iron.
I’m glad he’s here. His voice is calm like a storm, not booming or distracting, but soothing with grace. He reminds me of the actors of a time now gone such as Peter Cushing or Michael Gough. There’s much dignity provided in his voice.
And the story revolves around his character. Since the character of Professor Bruttenholm was killed in the theatrical movie release, I take this cartoon to be a prequel of sorts.
There’s an excellent experimental piece of storytelling called reverse flashback in this story. I’ve never seen it work this well before. The flashback refers back to John Hurt’s character all the way back to 1939 when he was just a young lad starting out in the field of the paranormal. The flashbacks work from the ending to the beginning.
And the pieces fit in the puzzle perfectly throughout. It’s a wonderful kind of telling a story, very different. Yet you never lose yourself following the story.
The flashback scenes are very enjoyable, catching the old mood of the Hammer Horror flicks from the 1950s to the 1970s, particularly the slant towards the vampires. And werewolves too. The glossing of blackness seems to hurdle the scenes very well, keeping a pace of biting horror in the mix. More interesting is the fact that a young hero makes a mistake… and his error, as the years go by, was the fact that he left the mark of horror surviving behind. And that horror begins to manifest itself again.
Growing stronger.
It draws the Professor, Hellboy and the rest of the crew into a haunted house holding a reputation for being a cold spot for sightings. It started out as a publicity stunt by a marketing engineer who wanted to make a buck out of this. But the myths and legends would soon become real. And the body count starts to rack up once more.
It’s nice to see that a hero must come back to right the wrong he’s done back in 1939, fixing the mess that he’s left in the rotting building filled with evil. Despite his age. The Professor here looks for redemption. He clings to faith. He believes his good over evil. And that leads to his final triumph over the vampire woman Erzsebet Ondrushko who has been haunting his dreams. He realizes that his work has been left unfinished.
The vampire is modeled based on the 16th century Hungarian noblewoman Elizebeth Bathory who believed that she could keep her eternal youth by bathing herself in the blood of virgins. She’s responsible for the deaths of many innocents. The same thread of story is seen here with the vampire parading after her youth. But her soul is corrupted from the inside. Nothing could ever make up for her thirst for blood. And the torture she gives to others. Both physically and spiritually.
But she brings about something even worse.
That’s when Hellboy comes in.
There’s a great bit towards the end with Hellboy fighting the big monster goddess Hecate, plenty of funny stuff, some visual comedy thrown into the scene. But Ron Perlman’s voice is perfect for Hellboy. He roughs his opponents up, jumps right in there knowing how he’s going to be kicked around. But that’s his job. He’s there to save people. He’s one of the good guys. That’s what he’s does. Even though he tells himself he should’ve stayed in bed.
It doesn’t disappoint. Hellboy has another destiny. Something colder, brutal. A backstory that will be embellished later on.
This cartoon restores my sense of youth. And that piece of childhood nostalgia returns to me as Hellboy: Animated rolls out with punches and fistcuffs like any monster movie. But it’s a monster movie with a story. Don’t underestimate its potential. Monsters galore, sure. But the human story of the Professor gives it a nice balance. Now who's the real hero in the story?
If it were up to me, I would watch a string of them for a Saturday morning line-up on weekends. But that’s just a mild childhood dream some time away. And those memories seem long and gone.
But now I’ve got another reason to be catching up with the animated mayhem jumpstarted by the Hellboy cartoons routinely shown on Cartoon Network Cartoon. Yesterday, the new animated feature came to DVD in the form of the story Blood and Iron.
The work is edgy, stark, with clear cut animated sequences that makes it look modern-day. Yet there’s a feeling of the gothic that paints the scenery, the shroud of blackness tumbles with a spell of atmosphere.
What’s more important is the mainstay of actors who participate in the voiceovers. They’re all here. Selma Blair and Doug Jones return as supporting characters who help Hellboy fight a horde of demons and creatures that go bump in the night. There’s the irreplaceable Ron Perlman as Hellboy himself, the blighted red, oversized demon with a mighty red hand of doom that’s just a foreshadowing of things to come.
Then there’s John Hurt who returns as the character of Professor Bruttenholm, the surrogate father to the red, jolly giant. Persuading someone like Hurt to come back to do some voicing must take some skill. He’s an actor of enormous caliber. He’s someone of great repute who brings something extra to the cartoon story of Blood and Iron.
I’m glad he’s here. His voice is calm like a storm, not booming or distracting, but soothing with grace. He reminds me of the actors of a time now gone such as Peter Cushing or Michael Gough. There’s much dignity provided in his voice.
And the story revolves around his character. Since the character of Professor Bruttenholm was killed in the theatrical movie release, I take this cartoon to be a prequel of sorts.
There’s an excellent experimental piece of storytelling called reverse flashback in this story. I’ve never seen it work this well before. The flashback refers back to John Hurt’s character all the way back to 1939 when he was just a young lad starting out in the field of the paranormal. The flashbacks work from the ending to the beginning.
And the pieces fit in the puzzle perfectly throughout. It’s a wonderful kind of telling a story, very different. Yet you never lose yourself following the story.
The flashback scenes are very enjoyable, catching the old mood of the Hammer Horror flicks from the 1950s to the 1970s, particularly the slant towards the vampires. And werewolves too. The glossing of blackness seems to hurdle the scenes very well, keeping a pace of biting horror in the mix. More interesting is the fact that a young hero makes a mistake… and his error, as the years go by, was the fact that he left the mark of horror surviving behind. And that horror begins to manifest itself again.
Growing stronger.
It draws the Professor, Hellboy and the rest of the crew into a haunted house holding a reputation for being a cold spot for sightings. It started out as a publicity stunt by a marketing engineer who wanted to make a buck out of this. But the myths and legends would soon become real. And the body count starts to rack up once more.
It’s nice to see that a hero must come back to right the wrong he’s done back in 1939, fixing the mess that he’s left in the rotting building filled with evil. Despite his age. The Professor here looks for redemption. He clings to faith. He believes his good over evil. And that leads to his final triumph over the vampire woman Erzsebet Ondrushko who has been haunting his dreams. He realizes that his work has been left unfinished.
The vampire is modeled based on the 16th century Hungarian noblewoman Elizebeth Bathory who believed that she could keep her eternal youth by bathing herself in the blood of virgins. She’s responsible for the deaths of many innocents. The same thread of story is seen here with the vampire parading after her youth. But her soul is corrupted from the inside. Nothing could ever make up for her thirst for blood. And the torture she gives to others. Both physically and spiritually.
But she brings about something even worse.
That’s when Hellboy comes in.
There’s a great bit towards the end with Hellboy fighting the big monster goddess Hecate, plenty of funny stuff, some visual comedy thrown into the scene. But Ron Perlman’s voice is perfect for Hellboy. He roughs his opponents up, jumps right in there knowing how he’s going to be kicked around. But that’s his job. He’s there to save people. He’s one of the good guys. That’s what he’s does. Even though he tells himself he should’ve stayed in bed.
It doesn’t disappoint. Hellboy has another destiny. Something colder, brutal. A backstory that will be embellished later on.
This cartoon restores my sense of youth. And that piece of childhood nostalgia returns to me as Hellboy: Animated rolls out with punches and fistcuffs like any monster movie. But it’s a monster movie with a story. Don’t underestimate its potential. Monsters galore, sure. But the human story of the Professor gives it a nice balance. Now who's the real hero in the story?
posted by K.M. Paters at 12:16 PM
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