REEL CRITICS:

This surely is the summer of superheroes in films, and burnout is fast approaching. But director Guillermo del Toro’s work is so creatively over the top in “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” that you will certainly not be bored.

Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is not your average comic-book hero (originally created by Mike Mignola). His huge physique and sawed-off horns are scary but offset by a great sense of humor — think George Clooney on steroids dipped in red crayons. Hellboy’s a pushover when it comes to love, babies and kittens even as he pummels evildoers with his giant stone fist.

This time Big Red is trying to save the world by stopping Prince Nuada (who looks like a cooler, blonder Marilyn Manson) from reactivating the Golden Army, a fearsome legion of killing machines resembling big shiny ants. He’s also got battles on the home front with his pyrokinetic girlfriend, Liz Sherman (Selma Blair).

The prince has a formidable opponent in his twin sister, Nuala. Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), Hellboy’s kindly half-aquatic super friend, is quite beguiled (begilled?). There’s a sweetly hilarious scene when Abe and Hellboy wax rhapsodic over their lady loves with a lot of beer and Barry Manilow.

The creatures are phantasmagorically creepy yet beautiful; creating sensory overload that makes the story secondary. But for sheer otherworldly entertainment, it’s not bad. Heck, I may even check out “Hellboy.”

Sci-fi classic reprised with modern special effects

In 1959, I was 11 years old when I paid 50 cents to see a Saturday matinee of the original “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” starring Pat Boone and James Mason.

I remember being astounded by the Technicolor widescreen wonders of the hidden world under the surface of the earth.

Immense caverns, exotic landscapes and giant lizards filled the screen, thrilling all the kids in the theater.

The passage of time has rendered those old special effects so cheesy and phony they are completely laughable today.

Now I get to pay $10 (20 times the 1959 price) to see the new remake of this film with modern CGI effects.

The silly lizards are now terrifying T-Rex killer machines right out of “Jurassic Park.”

The many obvious plastic models of the old film are now looking like the real deal.

Brendan Fraser has the main role in this sci-fi adventure with lovely Anita Briem providing the sparks on the ride.

Together they combine for a few rousing “Indiana Jones” moments. The cliffhangers are as hokey as ever.

But this old-fashioned film still ends up as one of the most family-friendly movies of the summer.

Take the younger kids for a lightweight escape and eat a bunch of popcorn!

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.