Hellboy II: The Golden Army ****

Surprisingly funny, wildly imaginative, and pleasingly violent in a fantastical way, "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" packs a lot of fireworks into its two hours of glorious escapism. Writer/director Guillermo del Toro delivers a mythical world that is more fully realized than in "Hellboy" (2004) and more inventive than in his Oscar-winning "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006).

Which is not to say that "Hellboy II" is better than "Pan's Labyrinth." The fairy world of "Pan's" served as a counterweight to and escape from the hellish world that the young heroine found herself living in. Here the parallel mythical world is fleshed out and populated with trading trolls, vicious "tooth fairies," avenging beasts, stone giants, ambitious princes, and a merciless mechanical army. It's a comic book come to life, not a dark and surreal drama of real people suffering and fighting for their lives and their freedom.

Arrayed against the threat from the other world are the unlikely heroes of the top-secret Paranormal Research Institute: Hellboy (Ron Perlman), his flaming (literally) girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), a walking fish lizard with the soul of a poet, Abe (Doug Jones), and the ectoplasmic Johann Krauss (voice of Seth MacFarlane). Gamely trying to keep everything under control and out of the press is the hopelessly out-gunned Tom Manning (played by dead-pan king Jeffrey Tambor).

If there is a theme behind all of the action, it is love; love in several forms and across the most unlikely lines. Love triumphs, along with irony, and even a saccharin love song by Barry Manilow can have its place.

Rated PG-13. 120 minutes. Guillermo del Toro - Director / Writer (screenplay) (story), Mike Mignola - Writer (story) (comic book), Lawrence Gordon - Producer, Lloyd Levin - Producer, Mike Richardson - Producer, Joe Roth - Producer, Guillermo Navarro - Cinematographer, Danny Elfman - Composer, Stephen Scott - Production Designer, Bernat Vilaplana - Editor. Distributed by Universal Pictures.

Principal actors: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Seth MacFarlane, Anna Walton, Brian Steele, and John Hurt.