The rise of digital technologies in filmmaking has cheapened the element of fantasy in movies. The most uninspired script and ham-fisted direction is far too frequently supersized with sequences of would-be razzle-dazzle. So that the very idea of seeing something completely original and imaginative and mind-blowing has become something of a wearisome drag. If you can see the never-before-seen in a Rob Cohen or Stephen Sommers movie, why bother?

Well, why you bother is because Guillermo del Toro is still making movies and may indeed be in his prime.

Del Toro is one of those visionaries who not only sees things the rest of us don’t but also knows how to build them and make them come alive and place them in works of art that impart meaning and emotion to them. He is a fantasist of the first order, a peer of Jean Cocteau, Federico Fellini, Jan Svankmajer, Terry Gilliam, David Lynch; take your pick.

Guillermo del ToroIn films such as “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Cronos,” “Mimic” and “Hellboy,” del Toro has combined mythology, nightmare and horror to bracing effect, sometimes to comment on politics or gender issues, sometimes to give life to dreamlike visions from other media, sometimes merely to play with strange puppets and costumes and decor. He’s made great use of the unusually built actors Ron Perlman and Doug Jones, and he has demonstrated a growth in his craft, acquiring subtlety and deftness even as his films have grown larger and more complex.

With “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” del Toro returns to the territory he first mined in 2004’s “Hellboy.” Based on the popular Dark Horse comic book character, that film introduced a cohort of bizarre and occasionally comical characters into a world where mythological creatures threaten mankind and the U.S. government uses other supernatural folks to oppose them.

This time, del Toro has, as in “Pan’s Labyrinth,” created a myth of his own concerning an indomitable army of clockwork soldiers and the angry prince of the unseen underworld who is determined to use it to crush humanity and reclaim the Earth for trolls and goblins. Being a del Toro script, there are elements of romance and the specter of parenthood, which in his vision can be as frightening as death. And there is some humor — never del Toro’s strong point — some of it oafish and some charming in a madcap, slapstick fashion.


Once again, Perlman plays the big, red, hotheaded Satan-spawn with the massive right hand and the very large guns. He’s been living with his fiery girlfriend, Liz (Selma Blair), long enough that domestic frustrations have set in, especially for her. And he’s been hidden by his government handler, Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) , long enough that he’s itching to get out in public and be noticed.

His chance comes when Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) decides that the immortal truce between the people of the underworld and humans has been too one-sided for too long. He has made a point of violently acquiring the materials he needs to revive the Golden Army, a legion of mechanical soldiers his father had built to destroy mankind. To pull off his heartless coup, he need not only defeat Hellboy and company, but he also must defy his own twin sister, Nuala (Anna Walton), who wishes the truce to continue and who has become beloved of Abe Sapien (the expressively angular actor Jones, with the voice of David Hyde Pierce), Hellboy’s colleague and best buddy.

The picture is filled with jaw-dropping visions: the tooth fairies; flying, piranha-like critters; the troll market; a wild underground caravansary; a forest god unleashed in Lower Manhattan; the transformation of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland into an actual giant; a hissing, winged, multieyed creature that represents Hellboy’s destiny; a chamber made up of ever-moving clockwork gears; a menagerie of demonic critters; and the newest member of Hellboy’s universe, Johann Kraus, a kind of intelligent super-vapor living inside a diving suit and speaking mock-Germanic in a voice provided by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane.

That’s all great. The foul-tempered Hellboy is a pleasure to be reunited with, and there are some wonderful action sequences and set-pieces. But an episodic quality keeps the film from gaining momentum and pulling you along in the sleek fashion of, say, “Iron Man.” Too, the gap between del Toro’s best inspirations and the flattest things in the film is pretty wide. A melancholy drinking bout scored to Barry Manilow, for instance, is not a moment for the pantheon, even if it makes people in a multiplex feel cuddly. Also, Tambor’s role has been reduced to goonishness more suited to “Get Smartt” than “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

Still, the sheer volume of amazing things that del Toro is able to mine from his unconscious and render plausibly on the screen is remarkable. “Hellboy II” feels pretty sequel-y, as these things go, but there’s a lot in it that has no precedent of any kind, anywhere, ever. That stuff makes it worthwhile.

Technological advances make “WALL*E” the best-looking of all the Pixar animated features to date.There are a few sequences in the digitally animated cartoon that look astonishingly real. And some bits of live-action footage have been spliced in, and it doesn’t look ridiculous when juxtaposed with the animation.

Fortunately, “WALL*E” is not only a triumph in terms of style, it’s also a triumph in terms of story. There’s a real emotional resonance and depth to this material, which is something of a surprise (especially when you consider the main character is a supposed, “artificial” life-form).

In fact, in both art and story this is an improvement over the two previous Pixar movies, the amusing but slightly chilly “Ratatouille” and the more disappointing “Cars,” which never really took off.

This science-fiction/comedy also boasts one of the more appealing cartoon “leads.” He’s a trash-compacting robot still operating on an Earth that’s been decimated by ecological neglect — a planet that also appears to have been deserted by mankind.

WALL*E seems to be content with having a cockroach for a pet and consoling himself with snippets from film classics (he’s continually watching a musical number from the 1969 movie version of “Hello, Dolly!”).


He’s desperately lonely, though. That becomes apparent when EVE arrives on the planet. “She” is a much more advanced robotic scout that’s been sent to Earth to look for any signs of life.

For WALL*E, it’s love at first sight. EVE seems preoccupied with her mission and oblivious to his clumsy attempts to “woo” her — that is, until he finds some fragile plant life.

Co-screenwriter/director Andrew Stanton already proved how well he can “humanize” nonhuman characters in his hits “Finding Nemo” (2003) and “A Bug’s Life” (1998).

And the ecological and environmental messages in his story are not nearly as strident and overpowering as they could have been. Stanton never tries to make his point at the expense of the characters or the story.

His newest tale is poignant and romantic at times and is completely charming throughout. It also has some laugh-out-loud gags and jokes.

Additional credit needs to go to sound effects artist Ben Burtt, who created “voices” for all of the robotic characters.

Also showing with the film is the seven-minute short “Presto,” which features a stage magician who has a hungry, mischievous rabbit sidekick. Like the featured attraction, it’s a delight.

As wish fulfillment fantasies for adolescent boys go, Timur Bekmambetov’s bullet-bending, “Matrix”-cribbing “Wanted” hits most of the expected bloody beats, though an argument or two could be made over the validity of its premise.While there’s little doubt that a passenger-seat view of Angelina Jolie driving a red Ferrari lying flat on her back atop the car’s hood would offer a new perspective on life’s possibilities, “Wanted” takes its jittery, Red Bull rush a step further and proposes a new cure for the workingman’s blues.

Just kill everyone.

There. Doesn’t that feel better?

“Wanted” is all about taking CONTROL (this is an all-caps kind of move), and, at the outset, nobody needs to hear that message more than cuckolded drone Wesley Gibson (Jame McAvoy). Wesley works as an account manager in a drab Chicago office building that’s presided over by a grotesque woman that would give Goya nightmares.

Picking up a prescription of the meds he gulps to combat his frequent anxiety attacks, Wesley looks over and notices Angelina Jolie has sidled up next to him. Jolie is playing a character here named Fox, but really she’s just Angelina in all her heavily tattooed slinky sexuality, smiling knowingly and offering Wesley a way out of his anesthetized existence.


So begins our Neo’s journey from numbness to greatness. Turns out Wesley has a connection to a secret society of assassins called The Fraternity. Fox is a member. So is Sloan (Morgan Freeman), who instructs Wesley on the Ways of the Force or, in this case (I kid you not), The Loom, a machine that weaves a secret code containing the names of The Frat’s future targets.

“The Loom provides, I interpret, you deliver,” Sloan tells Wesley, never once explaining why The Loom wants certain people dead, though we’re left to imagine it probably has something to do with polyester blends and low thread counts.

Russian director Bekmambetov knows how to make things go splat in ways that are satisfying and repulsive and consistently shows an awareness of his comic-book source material’s inherent silliness. The familiarity of story doesn’t help his cause. When it’s not stealing from “The Matrix,” “Wanted” takes a page from “Star Wars” none of which would be bothersome if it weren’t so obvious.

McAvoy, despite the occasional lapse back into his Scottish burr, is fine playing the young American dreamer. But the movie really needs more Angie, whose magnetism is missed whenever she isn’t on the screen.

Then again, the filmmakers seem more interested in toys and guns than women, a common affliction to this set. And Bekmambetov doesn’t always know when to stop with the squibs. The movie’s most spectacular detonation comes from Freeman impeccably delivering a profanity. Bekmambetov seems to understand this. But he can’t help himself. Dude loves to watch brain bits fly.