Not being one to dwell on the negative, my Little review and my Hellboy review are short but not so sweet.

Little Review — Big on potential, small on delivery

You might have heard that Little is a flip of  Tom Hanks’ Big, switching up age, race and gender. That’s what I was expecting. But the two films actually have very little in common. In Little, the childlike wonder and engagement that made Big so endearing is almost entirely absent.

Little stars Regina Hall as a despotic and abusive high tech company boss. Issa Ray (from TV’s Insecure) plays her beleaguered assistant. And Marsai Martin (from Black-ish) is the child version of the boss lady, after she is returned to her middle school body by a kid with a toy magic wand. Don’t ask how that happens—not even the lead characters can figure it out.

The actors do the best they can with the material they’re given, but the script is awkward, lurching from scene to scene with minimal setup or payoff. There’s also quite a bit of creepy child sexuality and outrageous bullying that is not at all funny.

Little is not entirely without the occasional bright moments, it’s just that there could have been so many more!

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 49 Minutes

Hellboy Review — Send him back!

I hate to say it, but this incarnation of Hellboy is one loud, long, bloody CGI monster mash.

An excruciating amount of ridiculous exposition numbs the audience to the relentless bludgeoning that happens in between. Take your most violent, monster-ripping video game, blow it up on the big screen, and send in a hapless David Harbour (Stranger Things) to futilely try to tie it all together. It doesn’t really work on any level.

I especially feel for Ian McShane, who plays Hellboy’s adopted father and creature battling boss. If you make it through to the end, you’ll see him in a CGI setup that no character or actor should have to endure…ever.

Director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers) was in a difficult position, trying to reimagine Guillermo Del Toro’s lovely and poignant Hellboy from 2004. But it seems the monsters grabbed this film by the throat and gave it one good, long, bloody shake. It’s not for the squeamish, or anyone else.

Rated R

2 Hours

If, after reading this Hellboy review and this Little review, you think you’d like to see these films, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.