This movie outlines why I love Del Toro as a filmmaker. Even to this day he still uses practical effects and only used CGI when needed. Both movies are terrific, but I think the second kind of leans more into Del Toro’s forte with fantastical imagery and characters.

They tightened up everything. The script makes for a more engaging narrative, the action is amped up, and the humour is funnier. I love when Abe and Hellboy are drunk singing together. I love the fights in the library and against the golden army. I love watching the monster with the metal hand subject himself to his own demise.

The sets, world building, makeup, prosthetics, and costumes alone put so many other fantasy and comic book movies to shame. The Troll Market scene alone is absolutely the best looking scene in the movie, I could stay there all day and never once not be amazed by all the sights and sounds. The practical effects, costume design, and set design are unbelievable good in this movie. Some of the best at the time .

Prince Nuada is such a great character. You can definitely empathize with him watching his people fading away and no one doing a damn thing about it.

Overall I prefer this over the first movie… and I really like the first movie. I just love that this one managed to still be dark and creepy and cool while having a more fairy-tale focus (talking about fairies, giant plant monsters, falling in love with a princess, etc)

It’s a testament to Del Toro’s talent and style that he took the dark tone of the first film and managed to keep it that way while adding in a ton more colour and variety. Guillermo del Toro is nothing short of a genius when it comes to character design and world building.

It is such a shame that we’ll likely never get the third Hellboy we all wanted. But at least the second ends in a way that fans can just be glad that Hellboy got a happy ending by getting a family with Liz.

I sometimes really miss seeing a lot of practical effects in more modern movies. The majority of today’s films use so much green screen these days it feels disappointingly fake. They rely too heavy on CGI.