Del Toro decided to follow Pan's Labyrinth by returning to his beloved Hellboy – a Hollywood movie sequel, but a film he says is just as personal as the Oscar winner.

The director's first Hellboy movie, back in 2004, was a faithful and colourful adaptation of the popular comic book, but one that did not fulfil all of its expectations and was clearly held back by studio constraints.

Returning to the character –– a demon who fights for the US government and against dark forces –– Del Toro was this time presumably given more creative freedom and room to manoeuvre.

The same could be said of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, which was good despite studio constraints, while his follow-up The Dark Knight was a more adventurous film and a masterpiece of the comic book genre.

Ambition

However, Del Toro does not manage to pull off the same feat. He definitely has ambition with his sequel Hellboy 2:The Golden Army, but what he achieves is a muddled, un-engrossing and ultimately anti-climactic film.

At the heart of Hellboy 2 are some really wonderful characters. Hellboy himself is lovable and beautifully created and the writers and directors really bring each character to life, no matter how insignificant they may seem to the film as a whole.

Each monster is also unique in look and personality, which shows original Hellboy creator Mike Mignola's eye for an authentic character – a skill JK Rowling would have been wise to study before writing the unimaginative and derivative Harry Potter series.

It is with the characters that the film succeeds, but despite how much you grow to love them, it does not take away from the fact that very little happens in Hellboy 2 and that what does is, frankly, quite boring.

The skeleton plot sees Hellboy and his team, including his love interest, played by the stunning Selma Blair, chase Prince Nuada who is trying to raise the Golden Army –– a battalion deemed so evil that it would be a travesty.

Nothing else really happens, the team look for the prince (played by former Bros member Luke Goss) ask a few questions and fight a few impressive monsters.

The film feels like a Lord of the Rings copy in the final third, with the action moving away from the American City (a good setting in the first) and the characters travel across the world meeting strange beings.

The film has some really wonderful and heart-warming characters and great spectacle, but fails in so many ways.

Goss' prince does not seem very evil or even slightly intimidating, there is very slow pacing and a criminal lack of plot.

With such high expectations for the movie it really does disappoint.

And although Del Toro says it is a personal film maybe in future he should take just a little love away from the characters and put it into the story.

Mark out of five: 3