Like Peter Jackson in King Kong, del Toro loses any sense of proportion. His most piquant inventions are petite phantasms with leaf-like wings and Venus fly-trap limbs; they look as adorable as baby pandas until they show their fangs. He calls them "tooth fairies" because they go for the teeth first when they treat the human body as a feast. The way they swarm is terrifying, but the creepiest and funniest scene comes when Johann inspects just one of them on an examining tray. It renders much of the mayhem superfluous.
I hope del Toro learns that the scenes everyone will talk about are the smaller and quieter ones, whether serious - such as Liz pleading for Hellboy's life with the Angel of Death - or uproarious - such as a drunken Hellboy singing a Barry Manilow song with a lovesick friend. And I hope I haven't underestimated this well-wrought spectacle merely because of its familiarity. After all, it isn't entirely del Toro's fault that Part II of Hellbo y too often plays like Superhero Part XXXXXXX.
