Surprisingly Good

Much to my surprise, "Hellboy II" was very, very good. I wasn't even a fan of the original movie, but the previews to this one totally sold me.

You can immediately see the "Pan's Labyrinth" influence in some of the new characters. I even think the little fairies from the film can be seen flying around in the Troll Market area. There were also 'tooth fairies' in the film as well, but they weren't the least bit friendly!

I just think the cast of characters and the story was so much better this time around. The addition of Johann Krauss -- a new freaky good guy -- was a really big plus. On top of all that, the fighting scenes were all quite entertaining.

While I'm not a big fan of having a lot of comedy mixed in with my action flicks, the humor in this movie is pretty good. To see Hellboy and Abe (the fish-looking guy) doing a feel-good duet of Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You" is super hilarious.

When I first heard of there being a sequel to "Hellboy", I remember rolling my eyes to the idea. Thankfully, I'm not a closed-minded person or I would have missed out on this very entertaining movie. I guess my point is that even if you weren' all too crazy about the first film, you might still enjoy this one if you are willing to give it a chance.

9/10