For the days leading up to Christmas, Strangers and Aliens presents 24 Christmas movies that aren’t Christmas movies, but really kind of are, for various reasons.
#10 — Hellboy II
What it’s supposed to be: Guillermo del Toro’s follow up to Hellboy, the tale of a demon-ish creature who uses his demon-ish powers to be a superhero and must save the world from elves and clockwork steampunk armies.
Why it’s a Christmas movie: The first scene sets the stage for us, as Helloby’s adopted father (John Hurt) tells him a bedtime story on Christmas Eve, 1955. The bedtime story is a fairy tale, and also the backstory for us, so we can know all that we need to know about the backstory of the crazy Lord of the Rings stuff we’re going to get into.
Thoughts: I have never hidden my love for Guilermo del Toro. His movies are graceful, brutal, beautiful, moody. He is a visual director with almost no equal.
And Hellboy II is no exception.
This movie is a bizarre combination of Lord of the Rings, superheroes, Cthulu-like creatures and concepts, clockwork robots, government bureaucracies, Star Wars creature design. I mean, it’s all in there.
And yet, it works!
Does it work as a Christmas movie? Well, it’s a bit weak, but because of the opening scene, it counts! (And it’s no where NEAR as tenuous as TOMORROW’S!)
Is It Naughty or Nice? Is this movie worth seeing?
Yes. It’s an awesome movie with fun characters and amazing design.
Santa Ben’s Verdict: Oh, so nice.
Your verdict? Let me know below in the comments!
Next: Psycho
Previous: Edward Scissorhands
You can follow this series of posts by clicking here: Strange Christmas Movies
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