Hellboy II: The Golden Army 07/13/08

It's sometimes hard to pin down a definition of art but the best I've heard is this. Art occurs when something is much better than it has to be. Take a look at Hellboy II. Search the corners of the screen. The imagination, the originality, the attention to detail contained within every frame of this movie. Did they need to put such effort into a sequel adapted from a little known comic book. Certainly Hellboy II doesn't garner the type of expectations that a movie like 'The Dark Knight' will. It didn't need and certainly wasn't expected of it to be this good. The makers simply had a passion and a drive to make a superior product. To produce something truly original. This movie is art.
If this movie is art, than the artist would have to be the film's director, Guillermo del Toro. He's sort of like the Spanish Tim Burton, in that all his films are infused with a certain style that simply can't be mimicked. Like Tim Burton and the 'Batman' franchise, Guillermo has found a sympathetic franchise in 'Hellboy.' 
Hellboy, played by Ron Perlman, is a cigar smokin', gun totin' demon that works for a not so secret top secret government agency. His partner is Abe, some sort of bipedal fish and Liz, his literally hot girlfriend played by Selma Blair. Blair has a tendency to burst into flames when she gets angry. It's pretty cool. The story involves an ancient truce between humans and fairy tale creatures that is interrupted by a Prince who feels betrayed by human greed and, I think, their environmental policies. Not so sure. I don't think he likes how we're cutting down forests or something. Either way, the story isn't much to write home about. What is really cool are the characters, the entire universe of different creatures that Guillermo invents en masse. I don't even know how to describe most of them or what myths they are based on. I apparently was not read the same fairy tales Guillermo read when he was a child. It's really cool when a movie like this gains some recognition come awards time. This could be this year's 'Bourne Ultimatum' in terms of, art direction, makeup, and costumes. It's not the best movie of the year, or even the best comic book blockbuster out there, but this movie could be taught in film schools just in terms of the qualities I've mentioned.
Also I will say that this movie has a weird goofy sense of humor to it. And the first half has many good laughs. I especially liked Jeffery Tambor, the only human with any sizable role. Abe, the fish genius, is given much to work with. Somehow they infused that fish face with emotion I could understand just by looking at it. And that guy can't even move his mouth. I still don't really know how they did that.