Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006) (TV)

Directors:

Phil Weinstein
Tad Stones

Writers:

Mike Mignola (characters)
Mike Mignola (story)
(more)

Release Date:

28 October 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A professor of folklore opens a forbidden scroll and becomes possessed by the ancient Japanese demons of Thunder and Lightning...

Plot Keywords:

Demon | Folklore | Sword | Hell | Dark Horse Comics

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Ron Perlman	...	Hellboy (voice)
Selma Blair	...	Liz Sherman (voice)
Doug Jones	...	Abe Sapien (voice)
Peri Gilpin	...	Professor Kate Corrigan (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dee Bradley Baker	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Liza Del Mundo	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Keith Ferguson	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kim Mai Guest	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michael Hagiwara	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Yuriana Kim	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Paul Nakauchi	...	Additional Voices (voice)
James Sie	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Mitchell Whitfield	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Gwendoline Yeo	...	Kitsune (voice)

Directed by
Phil Weinstein
Tad Stones		(supervising)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mike Mignola		characters
Mike Mignola		story
Karen Inwood Somers		documentary material
Tad Stones		screenplay
Tad Stones		story
Matt Wayne		screenplay

Produced by
Morris Berger	....	executive producer
Stephen R. Brown	....	executive producer (as Stephen Brown)
Sidney Clifton	....	producer
Stephanie Elliott	....	animation producer
Lawrence Gordon	....	executive producer
Scott D. Greenberg	....	producer
Scott Hemming	....	producer
John W. Hyde	....	executive producer
Lloyd Levin	....	executive producer
Mike Mignola	....	consulting producer
Mike Richardson	....	executive producer
Tad Stones	....	supervising producer
Guillermo del Toro	....	creative producer
Michael Wolf	....	animation executive producer (as Mike Wolf)

Original Music by
Christopher Drake

Film Editing by
John Hoyos
Jeffrey Perlmutter

Production Management
John Hoyos	....	post-production supervisor

Art Department
Nathan Chew	....	storyboard artist
Sahin Ersöz	....	storyboard artist
Nir Paniry	....	storyboard artist
Adam Van Wyk	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Marti D. Humphrey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Chris M. Jacobson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Eric Lewis	....	dialogue recording engineer
Jason Oliver	....	supervising dialog editor
Wes Otis	....	sound editor
Jeff Shiffman	....	sound editor
Jody Thomas	....	foley artist
Otis Van Osten	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
Brent M. Bowen	....	visual effects
Harry Eisenstein	....	main title design
Carol VanHook	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Bryndon Smith	....	camera operator: video camera

Animation Department
Russell Calabrese	....	sheet timer
William Houchins	....	sheet timer
Gordon Kent	....	timing director
Art Vitello	....	timing director
James T. Walker	....	sheet timer (as Tim Walker)
Jungja Wolf	....	sheet timer

Casting Department
Everett A. Oliver	....	casting coordinator

Music Department
Benjamin Stanton	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Other crew
Bradley Cooper	....	information technologies
Elaine De Mari	....	information technologies
Rafael Hurtado	....	production coordinator
Steffie Lucchesi	....	retake & media coordinator
Charles McCaskill	....	information technologies
Mike Medaris	....	information technologies
Janine Scalise	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• IDT Entertainment

Distributors

• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• IDT Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Dub Stage, The  sound re-recording

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | USA:PG | New Zealand:M | South Africa:13V | Netherlands:12

Company:

IDT Entertainment

Trivia:

The name that the old man is carving into a cucumber is "Murakami". Director Tad Stones says that this is a shout out to his friend, fellow animator Glen Murakami

Goofs:

Continuity: After Hellboy defeats the Heads in the forest, the professor crushes the head figurine and it turns to ashes. When they cut back to the scene of the professor, he is shown knocking the heads off the scroll.

Quotes:

Hellboy: Hey, kiddo. How you doing?
Liz Sherman: Great. For a walking napalm strike...
Abe Sapien: You saved our lives, Liz.
Liz Sherman: I practically torched you. Not to mention a couple of dozen miyans. Sorry about the burns...
Abe Sapien: Barely a sunburn.
Hellboy: Come on, they were mummies. And they were trying to kill you. Trust me, there's no upside to cutting the undead ANY slack.
Abe Sapien: You did what you had to do.
Liz Sherman: I lost control, is what I did. If you hadn't stopped me, I probably would have melted the place, and probably the two of you. I can handle the little stuff fine, but when I try anything big... God, the Bureau should lock me up! I'm the real monster!
[Hellboy and Abe begin laughing]
Liz Sherman: Okay, okay, I get it.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925)

Really very good, actually

I've been a Hellboy reader from the day the first issue of the comic hit the stands. When the live action movie came out I liked it, but thought it could've been a lot better. This movie, however, gave me the "a lot better" that I was hoping for: really fun and interesting MYTHOLOGICAL story (with interesting little bits of cultural details like the comics always have); interestingly plotted story that cuts backward and forward in time in a smart and engaging way; lots of cool, scary bad guys; and better written dialog than I thought the live action had, including better one-liners from HB.

I watched it with my six year old boy - checking in with him and explaining stuff if I felt nervous that he might be scared by anything in it - and he loved it too. I think it a great HB movie for a wide age range - again, like the comics.

The animation was sharp and detailed, but I kind of wished that the character designs and background work came closer to Mignola's originals. I guess if that were so, though, it would have probably been a much darker, scarier, and more "experimental" looking movie - all of which would have altered it's demographics a lot, and maybe killed it's financing in the process.

All in all I'd really recommend it.