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Despite writer and director Guillermo del Toro's creative touches, Hellboy suffers from a sluggish pace, confusing narratives and a weak plot. Dominated by a malevolent theme, Del Toro mixes Dirty Harry's method with Marilyn Manson's mood and ends up with a milder expression of nihilism. The story is based on Mike Mignola's comics.

Disney's downsized animated feature Home on the Range is strictly Saturday afternoon matinee material. There was a time when such a thinly plotted cartoon might have aired on the Disney Channel, but, in today's theaters, it ranks as prominently featured family fare. On its own terms, Home is funny and entertaining.

It was probably inevitable that Tom Hanks would eventually be in a movie that even his prodigious talent would fail and be failed by. That it is a Coen Bros. picture that would do him this injustice is a sting few moviegoers may likely forget or forgive. But in The Ladykillers, Hanks gives probably the worst and most ill-conceived performance of his career.

In Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed there is one mystery those notoriously meddlesome kids Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma (Linda Cardellini), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and canine Scooby Doo, don't solve: Why this waste of celluloid was made in the first place. Of course, it doesn't take a great fictional detective like Sherlock Holmes or even a bad one like Inspector Gadget to figure it out. The first flick grossed $153 million in theaters alone, so a sequel was inevitable.

Dawn of the Dead has everything you could want in a horror/action movie—loads of violence, loud explosions, car crashes, a bit of sex and, most importantly, legions of zombies. That these elements are assembled expertly by first time director Zack Snyder is one of the most pleasant surprises in what has already been a flat year for action and horror flicks.

Following on the coattails of 50 First Dates, director Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores, instead of exploits, the power of memory and its visceral connection to love. The result is a brilliant bit of surrealist cinema, a love story told in reverse that would have made Luis Bunuel proud.

The following is a selection of letters sent to us in response to Scott Holleran's commentary "Jesus Christ Superscar." Click here to read the original article. Some responses have been edited for clarity or shortened for length requirements. Thanks to all who responded as we do read every e-mail. We look forward to more of your feedback. <HR>

Like The Bourne Identity with better brains, Spartan offers thoughtful, tidy suspense and intriguing plot. Written and directed by David Mamet (who directed The Winslow Boy and wrote Ronin and The Untouchables), Spartan replays the political conspiracy of Mamet's Wag the Dog.

Secret Window tries hard to be an edge-of-your-seat scare fest, but, instead, only rises to the level of campy weirdness, fueled mainly by Johnny Depp's performance.

Daring director Joe Johnston's Midas touch is barely evident in his horseracing saga Hidalgo, which bets on Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and writer John Fusco (Thunderheart, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron).

Making a movie based on a TV show your target audience probably has never seen is risky. But the Ben Stiller-Owen Wilson vehicle Starsky & Hutch does a good job of not only playing into its 1970s cop show roots, but making the material fresh and fun. The result: probably the first real laugh-out-loud comedy of the year.

HOLLYWOOD (Box Office Mojo)—The Passion of the Christ is performing far beyond the lofty expectations even its $26.6 million Wednesday suggested, let alone what anyone thought prior to its release. Mel Gibson

Anticipating the upcoming Scooby Doo 2, Broken Lizard's Club Dread plays like an R-rated version of the old Hanna Barbara cartoon with sex, drugs and rock-and-roll substituted for the annoying dog. And, like the old cartoon show, the mystery is kind of lame, the jokes are tried-and-true, and the whole atmosphere is just amiable enough to put a smile, albeit a weak one, on your face.

Seventeen years after the original Dirty Dancing, Miramax and Lions Gate Films have brought forth a new offering: Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Though the dancing lacks spirit, the story is better—for a while. JoAnn Jansen's choreography and brilliant costumes by Isis Mussenden serve the plot and pre-communist Cuba setting.

Perhaps Ash Wednesday should be renamed Fat Wednesday. Mel Gibson

This is not a review of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which is being released in theaters today. That, online readers, was not possible. The movie's publicists told Box Office Mojo that pre-release screenings were restricted to so-called print media, though most print publications make their content available online (and those who use the Web know how to print an article). Online media, we were told by those ordained to publicize The Passion, were not trusted to review the movie in advance.

HOLLYWOOD (Box Office Mojo)—Maybe Ash Wednesday should be renamed Fat Wednesday. Mel Gibson

Meg Ryan's boxing drama, Against the Ropes, does not deliver a knockout. Everyone from director Charles S. Dutton and writer Cheryl Edwards to the cast seems adrift in an unfinished work.

Ever wonder what the most popular movies are on Box Office Mojo? Now you can find out! The tabs at the top of this new page allow you see which

There is only one sin that a comedy can commit to have it consigned to the deepest pits of cinematic hell—be unfunny. Welcome to Mooseport commits that sin among others in its 90 some odd minutes of stultifying tedium.