Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy, the wisecracking, kitten-loving demon with a kind heart beating beneath his ember-red bulk and thick log of a head with filed-down horns, is back to save the world from a supernatural threat in Guillermo del Toro's sequel to his own adaptation of Mike Mignola's cult comic. The rich visual imagination is more compelling than the narrative this time around, as Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his lady love, the emotionally volatile pyrokinetic Liz (Selma Blair), take on an ancient elemental who declares war on the human race that is dooming his own people to extinction. Del Toro never quite taps the tragedy inherent in the conflict or the heat in the touchy romance between Hellboy and Liz, but he does create a dense mythology and an imaginative visualization to match.

Del Toro's commentary is driven by his passion and excitement for the film, and it's more engaging than the fun but slight cast commentary with Jeffrey Tambor, Luke Goss and Blair. The 2½-hour documentary "Hellboy: In the Service of the Demon," an exhaustive look at the production and creative imagination of the film, is on the second disc of both the "3-Disc Special Edition" DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film. Also features an enthusiastic "Troll Market Tour" (del Toro just loves to show off the imaginative details), about five minutes of deleted scenes (with optional commentary), a look at the opening sequence in "Professor Broom's Puppet Theatre," and a bonus digital copy that can be downloaded to PC, iPod or other compatible players. The Blu-ray edition features the "U-Control" function, an intermittent audio-visual commentary track in which you can access picture-in-picture interview clips and behind-the-scenes footage.