Hellboy Animated 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Hellboy Animated 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 27, 2019

Ron Pearlman may have an incredibly distinctive appearance, but he’s one of those actors who has also been blessed with a very memorable voice. That occasionally thunderous, often slightly growly, sound helps to link the animated Hellboy to its two prior live action counterparts (another live action Hellboy is due momentarily, which may help to at least partially explain the release of these lesser remembered outings on 4K UHD, since otherwise this release would seem to be yet another prime example of what I've been saying seems at times like a completely random "strategy" on the part of Lionsgate and its 4K UHD offerings). Unfortunately, neither of the stories in this animated two-fer ever really rise to the giddy heights that either of the Guillermo del Toro films did.

Hellboy Animated received a 1080p Blu-ray release several years ago. For those wanting a summary of the plots of the two animated offerings included on this release, I recommend reading my colleague Martin Liebman's Hellboy Animated Blu-ray review of that release.

Hellboy Animated 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray. Screenshots 1 - 5 are from Sword of Storms and screenshots 6 - 10 are from Blood & Iron.

Hellboy Animated is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 1.78:1. This is frankly kind of an odd release for me to have to assess, since the animation style is not overly ornate, and aside from some interesting new highlights gained via Dolby Vision, to my eyes there wasn't a whale of a lot of difference between the 1080p Blu-ray version and the 4K UHD version, at least in terms of things like clarity or "detail" levels. One thing immediately did stick out to me, and not necessarily in a good way — while things ever tip over into true "jaggie" territory, there is some noticeable line detail instability that's evident in the 4K version, instability that kind of weirdly I kept noticing in the lines around characters' eyeballs. Line detail on actual bodies seemed to be considerably more consistent and less "wobbly" looking. While a lot of the animation style here is definitely on the minimalist side, there are occasional stabs at distinctive stylization in both episodes, and when the palette exploits deep hues in the blue and purple ranges, the differences between the 1080p Blu-ray and 4K UHD versions are quite noticeable. One of the kind of funny things, and one that may be linked to Tad Stones' comment that the design aesthetic of the animated Hellboy couldn't ape Mike Mignola's conceptions, is the fact that Hellboy is often less than "red", and in fact attains a kind of rusty brown or orange look, and all of the tones in that general range pop quite well in the 4K UHD version.

Hellboy Animated 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lionsgate may have a distinctly weird slate of 4K UHD releases in terms of some of their older 1080p Blu-ray product, but they have frequently upped the ante (literally in the case of audio codecs) by upgrading to Dolby Atmos on some of their releases, and that's the case here. While that's a perfectly commendable thing for them to do, unfortunately the somewhat limited sound designs of both episodes on this disc mean that the Atmos tracks, while occasionally impressive, don't have the kind of consistent "wow" factor that some audiophiles may prefer. There is definite engagement of the Atmos channels with elements like spirit moans that hover in midair or the flight of a helicopter, and there are momentarily cool sounding effects like the panning rush of fire that Liz Sherman produces in Sword of Stones. That said, surround activity tends to be more "grounded" (so to speak), with decent engagement of the side and rear channels, but only fitful bursts of LFE and relatively long stretches when there's not much going on besides dialogue.

Hellboy Animated 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unlike the original 1080p Blu-ray release of this title, one which offered no supplements of any kind, Lionsgate has included a few extras associated with each of the two titles offered on this release. While the supplements are ostensibly in 1080p, they show signs of upscaling, especially in text elements like identifiers of various talking heads.

Sword of Storms

• A New Breed: Creating the New Hellboy (1080p; 5:21) offers a few interesting factoids, as in the revelation that some kind of pre- arrangement in the deal meant that the character designs in this animated version had to differ from Mike Mignola's original conceptions.


• Conquering Hellboy: The Actors Role (1080p; 6:28) looks at some of the voice actors and includes a few fun snippets of recording sessions.


• A View from the Top: The "Heads" Sequence (1080p; 5:26) is a brief overview (sorry) of one of this episode's big moments.


• Sword of Storms Audio Commentary featuring Hellboy Creator Mike Mignola, Supervising Producer and Director Tad Stones, and Director Phil Weinstein

Blood & Iron

• Reversal of Fortune: Professor Broom's Story (1080p; 20:24) offers some brief introductory comments before venturing off on what is in essence a "third" animated episode, one which gives a bit of backstory for this character.


• Tales from the Tomb: A Look Inside Blood & Iron (1080p; 12:59) is a decent making of piece.


• Iron Shoes With Introduction by Mike Mignola (1080p; 3:42) finds Mignola discussing Redcap, a figure from English folklore.


• Blood & Iron Audio Commentary featuring Mike Mignola, Tad Stones and Vic Cook

Hellboy Animated 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Marty summed up his review of the original 1080p Blu-ray release of this title in his "deck" (the little subtitle under the review title at the head of many of our reviews), where he stated, "A double whammy of animated mediocrity," and that kind of generally "meh" feeling means that this 4K upgrade can only go so far in terms of either video or audio. This is another kind of odd 4K UHD release from Lionsgate, but at least the studio seems to understand that if they are going to re-release a niche product like this in this format, they should probably grease the wheels with supplements and improved audio to go along with the "automatic" increased resolution the format affords the video side of things. Video has a few curious hurdles along the way, though Dolby Vision does add some noticeable new nuance to the palette. The Dolby Atmos track is fitfully engaging, but only gets to strut its stuff in fits and starts.