6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent novelization, but could have been better, August 29, 2008
This review is from: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Paperback)
I usually don't read novelizations, but I make an exception with the "Hellboy" films. The scripts to these films are so different from the original comics that it is useful to be able to read these novelizations to catch things that one missed during the rush of the movie. Also, these novelizations are often based on the final shooting script, not the movie as filmed. Therefore, these novels have details and added information that didn't make it onto the screen. All of this added information can be helpful.
It is also nice when the novelization is a great read in and of itself. I had really loved Yvonne Navarro's novelization of the first movie and have read and re-read it many times. (Even though I own the DVD of the first "Hellboy" movie, Navarro's novelization can be carried more easily on the subway than a portable DVD player.)
I truly wish I could say the same thing about Robert Greenberger's novelization of "Hellboy II: The Golden Army". Yes, it is useful for the added information and details that one misses in the film. It is also useful as a comparison to the movie as filmed--there are places where what was filmed is very different from the final shooting script. I would even say that, in general, Robert Greenberger is a pretty decent writer. There's just something about this book that is not as good as Yvonne Navarro's earlier novelization and I wish she had been tapped to do this one as well.
I also have two quibbles with the book as Greenberger adapts the script:
1. Hellboy's adoptive father is named Trevor Bruttenholm. I don't mind that the novelization spells the name phonetically as 'Broom', but Greenberger gives one the false impression that 'Broom' is a nickname. It is not a nickname, it is the way the British name of 'Bruttenholm' is pronounced. (Yvonne Navarro has a similar false impression in her novelization as well.)
2. In several places in this novel Greenberger points out how much older Abe Sapien is than many of the other characters. He then gives one the impression that this age difference gives Abe much more life experience than Hellboy.
It is true that Abe was 'born' in 1865 and Hellboy almost a century later in 1944. Yet, Hellboy has much more life experience than Abe who spent the decades from 1865 to 1978 in a state of total suspended animation. In both life experience and experience in the field, Hellboy is actually decades older than Abe. In both the original comics and in spin offs from these comics, Hellboy is portrayed as the 'older brother', not Abe.
While it is true that Abe often acts more mature than Hellboy, this comes more from his basic psychological makeup, not decades more life experience than Hellboy.
Greenberger's novelization was a fun read, but it will be long before I sacrifice the time to re-read it.
Beth Palladino
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Marginally entertaining, March 27, 2011
This review is from: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Paperback)
Better than the novelization of the first one, but not great. Writing style is more sophisticated and occasionally really engrossing. For example, the sense of the opening scene at the military base when Hellboy was a child is is nicely done and quite atmospheric. Later there are few segments that provide the same sense of almost being there. The description of the Troll Market segment doesn't though, coming off flat almost as if the writer was too concerned with describing the details to try to produce prose generating a sense of the atmosphere. The characters motivations have been changed a bit and Nuada has been reduced to a spoiled schoolboy instead of the sad, angry and complex man as he was portrayed in the movie.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Want to know more about the Prince?, September 27, 2011
This review is from: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Paperback)
The book arrived in amazing condition even though it was gently used (I honestly thought it was new). The story gives more insight into some things that happened in the film which add even more depth to the film experience. I love it and I have read the book almost as many times as I have watched the film (I've also paused in the book at the very same scenes that I have in the movie . . . Prince Nuada, yum!). Great book and it definitely makes the movie more enjoyable!
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