For centuries the demons known as Thunder and Lightning have been imprisoned in an ancient scroll, but when a curious professor sets them free, all of mankind may become the slaves of these ancient evils. But luckily for us there is something out there that is specially tailored to handle these types of situations it’s The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and they are sending in their top three agents to handle the situation. It’s time for a road trip as Liz, Abe and Hellboy are heading to the Orient in a quest to find the sacred Sword of Storms and to stop the ancient evil once again.

The Right Hand of Doom and crew are back, but not in the flesh this time around, because this time it’s the animated version of the those that bump back when something goes bump in the night in. Written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola Sword of Storms is a fantastic journey into the world of Hellboy and the mythos of the exotic east.

With betrayed loves, demons, lone samurai warriors, trippy adventure sequences and a huge honking- red skinned- horned headed-trench coat wearing, hero, how can you go wrong? Answer? You can’t. Sword of Storms is a slick, stylish production from start to finish and with it’s excellent animation it looks like it has been ripped right off of Mignola’s drawing board. Also the voice acting is top notch as well, thanks to the return of Ron Perlman as Hellboy, Selma Blair as Liz Sherman and Doug Jones, the man in the suit in the Hellboy movie, gets to add his voice to the character he brought to life on the big screen.

It’s the imagery in Sword of Storm that make it so fun. Ancient Japanese characters and legends are brought beautifully to life and in ways that you can only do with animation. As Liz and Abe work on the outside world, Hellboy is sent into a parallel type world where he has to find his way back, in a journey that kind of resembles the Wizard of Oz in some sense. The story also has a good mix of humor and dry wit that respects the comic book fan’s love of the characters for the entire run time of the film.

If I have one complaint about the animated version of Hellboy, it’s that I wish it would have been a little darker, not so much in mood but in terms of action and thrills. It seems that at times, it kind of pulls the punch right before it connects you squarely in the jaw. Aside from that the first animated Hellboy outing is pretty damn entertaining.

7 of 10