You can just smell it: more monsters, bigger monsters, better CGI, oh, and some more monsters for good measure. If you're after a visually spectacular fantasy, come and watch this. If you're after a jolly good story, forget it.

The movie gets off to a genial start as grumpy anti-hero Hellboy (Ron Perlman) mooches around his lair, occasionally using his supernatural powers to thwart evil forces. Alongside his dissatisfied girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), he works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

Laughs come when Hellboy refuses to shun the limelight, showing off for assembled crowds as he dispatches the latest bunch of creatures threatening US citizens. Then comes the hocus-pocus.

A pallid prince (Luke Goss!) has decided to wage war on humanity and needs the remaining part of some sort of magical gubbins to ensure victory.

This is in the possession of his equally anaemic sister (Anna Walton), who is a good sort and is sensibly trying to elude her megalomaniac brother.

Hellboy and company must protect her, then have a big face-off with the bad guys, and that's about it.

The characters are sketchy and romance is underwhelming. What you're left with is a few giggles and some fantastic action.

It's inoffensive stuff but in terms of director Guillermo del Toro's previous work, this is more Blade II than Pan's Labyrinth.