"Hellboy" is a standard-issue superhero movie -- except that writer-director Guillermo del Toro, taking his cue from "Hellboy" comic book creator Mike Mignola, brings a wicked sense of humor to this particular monster mash. Not the goofy slapstick of "Men in Black," mind you, but dry wit and humanizing touches that make Ron Perlman's title character more than a big red monster. Pulling elements from "The X-Files" and "X-Men" to "Star Wars" and Perlman's own "Beauty and the Beast" TV series, the world of Hellboy feels awfully familiar.

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