Hellboy Animated Sword of Stones DVD Review

With the release of the blockbuster hit, "Hellboy II: The Golden Army", the renewed interest in the mystical red defender of earth from things that bump in the night continues to heighten. Between the release of the two Hellboy movies, there are two animated DVDs that serve, not so much to fill the gap, but to continue the saga of the BPRD and the type of encounters they have to deal with.

In "Sword of Stones", Hellboy was investigating an assignment in Japan when he magically transported to a demon world of Japanese mythos as he touched an artifact, the Sword of Stones. This sword was used to banish the demon brothers, Thunder and Lightning, who were trying to make a comeback in order to wake up sleeping dragons to help them conquer the world. But before they could do so, the Sword of Stones must be broken to set them free.

Practically dumbfounded by the teleportation, Hellboy, at the advice of the first creature he met - a mysterious talking fox, travelled eastward as he attempted his way back home. He encountered and fought fascinating creatures such as a group of flying head demons, a harp-playing spider queen, a toad demon, and other ghouls.

Meanwhile, back on earth, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman contended with the precursors to the coming of the demon brothers. Some of the dragons already began stirring and nearby countrysides were terrorized. Abe's and Liz's airplane was downed by a lightning bolt as they flew to Japan in order to investigate Hellboy's sudden disappearance. They fought one of the dragons in an island where they took sanctuary after their plane crashed into the ocean.

Slaying dragons, fighting mystical demons and becoming pawns in a centuries old love affair are the overlying themes of Hellboy Sword of Stones. The demon world is inhabited by fantastic lores of Japanese myths. The movie creators could probably have spent most of the storyline within this world and would have made a memorable film.

Their decision to separate Hellboy from Abe and Liz tho' is workable. For the non-comic book readers, this is the first time we get a feel of Liz's awesome power as a pyro as she was forced to confront the dragon on the island. We also get a macho-er Abe Sapien. In the cartoons, Abe is a frontline fighter, not simply a scout, though he ends up getting beat up quite a bit. Not the Abe Sapien I remember in Hellboy the movie.