Hellboy: Blood & Iron (2007)

Ghosts, haunted houses, vampires, werewolves, witches, harpies, and a snake goddess. Is it any wonder why Hellboy stories are so much fun? Hellboy: Blood & Iron is the second animated Hellboy feature and it's a significant improvement over the first. There are two parallel stories in this film, the main storyline follows Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. investigating a haunted house and the second takes place in 1939 and is centered on a young Professor Bruttenholm as he hunts Erzsebet Ondrushko (Kath Soucie), a vicious vampire Countess who bathes in the blood of her victims in order to preserve her youth. The secondary plotline is told via flashback segments and these are presented in reverse order. This is actually quite effective in its use during the main storyline. As with the first film, the voice acting is fantastic, featuring nearly all the actors form the live action films, including John Hurt as professor Bruttenholm, Doug Jones as Abe Sapien, Selma Blair as Liz Sherman, and Peri Gilpin as Professor Kate Corrigan. The only exception is that Jim Cummings voices Tom Manning instead of Jeffrey Tambor from the films. Once again Ron Perlman brings the same charm he adds to Hellboy in every version he’s portrayed him. It’s quite difficult to imagine the character with a different voice and attitude.

Every aspect of this film is superior to Sword of Storms. The animation is smoother, the tone is much darker and more consistent, and the story is not only more intriguing, but better paced as well. There's a lot of action in the 75 minute run time, but it’s well distributed. After the opening action sequence, most of the screen time is dedicated to building up the mission and characters. Some of the best scenes are just with Hellboy and the other characters interacting and exploring the haunted house. A lot of time was spent in designing the mansion and it's clear in the backgrounds. There are marble statues and detailed paintings in nearly every room. By the end of the film, every inch of the mansion is explored from the upper levels to the caverns beneath it.

What works best in this film is the tone and story. The story is much more centered on the characters, the relationship between Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm in particular. There are also some seeds planted for a much bigger storyline concerning who Hellboy is as well as that right hand of his, as evidenced during a flashback and Hellboy’s encounter with the Goddess Hecate. The tone this time around is much darker and it's reflected in the animation. The setting is often dark and filled with shadows. There's a particularly good scene in which Hellboy battles a werewolf in a room in which the only light source is from the fireplace, making the entire action scene red. It's also refreshing to see just how serious the story takes itself, even with characters making wise-cracks about certain situations. This is what makes the characters really likable and the story maintain its drama. Even though the characters are aware of the absurdity of their situations, there's no mistake that they're dangerous, and most of the humor is very carefully placed so that darker scenes are allowed to be as dark as they need to be. This story is so steeped in mythology and folklore that it clearly emits its inspiration from the comics by Mike Mignola.

There are a few slight issues, such as some very minor animation inconsistencies (specifically Hellboy’s disappearing and reappearing injuries towards the end). This is also a film only for those familiar with Hellboy as a character. Little time is spent on his origin, though it's referenced, and nothing is said about how the other characters came to be. If you’ve seen the live action films or read the comics, this is no problem, but if you are new to the character than it's very possible to feel a little lost. Aside from a few minor complaints, Hellboy: Blood & Iron is a terrific animated film that's as good as the live action counterparts. It's not to be missed for fans of the series.

The Cat Returns (2002)

Directed by Hiroyuki Morita, The Cat Returns is a strikingly different film when compared to Whisper of the Heart. I wouldn't describe this film as a sequel to Whisper of the Heart, though it does use a few characters from its predecessor. Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (now voiced by Yoshihiko Hakamada) as well as the fat cat Muta (Tetsu Watanabe) both return here, though in a noticeably different context. In fact, the film makes no allusions to the events or characters of the first film aside from one or two vague references. The animation style is also drastically changed, emphasizing the digital animation as opposed to the hand drawn cels of Whisper of the Heart.

The story follows Haru (Chizuru Ikewaki), a young school girl. Slightly absent-minded and almost forcefully clumsy, she sort of stumbles around and gets into a few awkward situations. Nothing too drastic, but she has slight feelings of being out-of-place with her surroundings. The plot takes off when she risks her own life to save a black cat crossing the street. The cat reveals itself to be able to speak and thanks her for her good deed. soon after, a parade of feline royalty march up to her door and thank her for rescuing black cat, who was actually the prince of the cat kingdom. they prove to be too grateful and, after giving her an abundance of gifts that only a cat would appreciate, the King decides that she should be brought to their world so that she may marry the prince, whether she wants to or not. She doesn't like the idea and her desperation leads her to the Baron and Muta, who serve as something of a Sherlock Holmes and Watson team of do-gooders.

The best way to describe this film is light. the film is short (only runs at about 75 minutes) and light-hearted in tone, while focusing instead on the visuals and quirkiness of the cat world as opposed to the more emotional complexities of Whisper of the Heart. It needs to be viewed on its own merits, and as an entertaining fantasy, it’s quite a fun story. My only real complaint with this film is actually much like one I had with Coraline. The central lesson of the film to learn to believe in yourself and like the way you are. It's simple and straightforward, as well as blatantly stated a few times throughout the story (it’s definitely aimed at a younger audience than most of the other Studio Ghibli films). While the lesson is fine, it was never that difficult for Haru to learn. For one thing, her previous situation before traveling to the other world isn't what one would describe as dire. There's no real reason for her adventure other than a slight awkwardness; compare this to what leads Wataru to go on a journey in Brave Story. In the end, she becomes a bit more mature, but it’s not a particularly drastic alteration of her character other than that she wakes up early the next day.

Still, it’s the light-hearted nature that adds a lot of the charm to this film. The cats are all amusing in terms of both mannerisms and visuals. The king of the cats is a particularly comical character, even while serving as the villain of the story. The dynamic between the Baron and Muta is also a fun addition, especially the way the Baron is portrayed as so deadpan, even among the more silly characters and situations. He's shown to be a charming and cool cat, despite the kind of absurdity of his appearance. As usual, and despite the different style of character animations, everything in the film is set against the beautifully painted backgrounds featuring bizarre and colorful locations. Although it differs from Whisper of the Heart in virtually every way, as a light fantasy film The Cat Returns makes for a fun and enjoyable viewing.

The Social Network (2010)

Based on the novel The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, The Social Network tells the story of the creation of Facebook. This is done via flashback as Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), one of the creators, is being sued by Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), his former best friend and co-creator of the site, and a pair of twins named Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer), who claim that he stole their idea. The film opens with Mark having a conversation with his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend in a bar. This scene serves as a great introduction to the main character. He's technically a genius and is fully aware of it. He's so aware of his intelligence that he's spiteful of just about everyone around him, including his friends. He talks very fast and assumes that everything said to him is based on some kind of angle or implication. By the end of the initial sequence, his girlfriend’s frustration is understandable. After they break up, he gets drunk and blogs about her and then decides to create a website that allows everyone in the university to compare girls attending based on their looks. He does this by hacking into various school programs and the site becomes so popular so quickly, that it literally crashes the schools system. This inevitably leads to the creation of Facebook, which wasn't entirely his idea, but he made it first so it doesn’t really matter.

The cast is terrific in this film. Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg is particularly good and is able to deliver Aaron Sorkin’s extremely smart dialogue very naturally. The character of Mark may seem like an arrogant prick for the majority of the film, but Jesse Eisenberg adds a certain level of depth and the occasional moment of vulnerability to him. Andrew Garfield is also good as Eduardo, Mark’s best and only friend. Easily the most sympathetic character in the film, he tries very hard to be a good friend to Mark, and funds the site in the earliest stages. Given that everything he does seems to be in order to support their site and help out Mark, it makes the betrayal he suffers much more tragic later on in the story. A surprising scene stealer is Justin Timberlake, who plays Sean Parker, the founder of Napster. He’s greedy, underhanded, and able to influence Mark, who looks up to him. It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if he decides to never release another album again and remain an actor. For those familiar with Aaron Sorkin’s work, it becomes obvious that this is one of his early on, and a major part of what makes this film great is the incredible script. The dialogue is smart and extremely sharp, packed with (surprisingly) fascinating conversations about programs and code (that seem genuine) and characters who display a venomous wit. David Fincher, who loves shooting darker looking films, packs the story together very neatly and keeps the focus on the characters.

One of the more interesting aspects about this film is that it captures the current status of the nerd; these young people that invent the next big thing, whether it be Youtube, Twitter or Facebook. A lot of what drives Mark is that he feels like he's entitled to whatever he wants because he believes he's better than anyone else. The twins, for instance, are members of the Harvard rowing team. They’re these big rich jocks and even his girlfriend offhand mentions having an attraction to the idea of athletes. Since he can never be one of them and isn't allowed into their exclusive school club, he does the next logical thing. He does something they want to do and does it bigger and better than they ever could, flipping them off while doing it. His arrogance and frustration certainly makes for a fascinating character study and an intense modern drama.