Van Helsing: The London Assignment (2004)

DVD

When the Hugh Jackman vehicle Van Helsing was first announced it was the films conceptual artwork that caught my eye. Four very cool, very dark pictures of The Wolfman, Frankensteins Monster, Dracula and of course Van Helsing himself. Now I haven't yet seen that film since the actual trailer made it look like a far too overblown bad CGI fest (kind of like the typical Summers movie, only a hundred times worse). However one thing that I did retain hope for was the animated prequel to this film, Van Helsing: The London Assignment since A/It was animated and therefore would be able to recreate the concept art much more successfully, and B/The cover artwork was dripping in the kind of atmosphere that promised something akin to a much less violent Blood The Last Vampire.

Sadly this short; that sees Van Helsing being sent to investigate a spate of murders in London, and discovering a plot by Dr. Jekyll to capture queen victoria's heart, was lacking in more than just a little of that promised style.

It's just that the animation was far too basic for the atmosphere that a a good anime aimed at a teenage audience should provide. The visuals reminded me of The BFG (A kids movie that is now over 20 years old), but without the quirky writing and strong characters it also lacked the appeal. It may look quite nice in screen grabs where the well drawn characters and decent location design will stand out best, but the action scenes between Van Helsing and Mr. Hyde are severely hurt by the decidedly jerky level of animation on display.

The visuals are merely the surface details for a film that lacks enough sophistication even for an audience of 12 year olds. The whole story moves by with the idea of getting in as many action scenes into nits half hour run time as possible and as a result relies on the old coincidental quick fix answer to detective work. Most of the time Van Helsing will discover something because the answer will land in his lap, and the point when he discovers that Dr. Jeckyll is Mr. Hyde happens because after fooling him with the latter personality, Dr. Jeckyll chose to take a drink of his formula and do battle with Van Helsing. Perhaps you could put those actions down to the shallow characters since the hero is nothing more than the embodiment of confidence, and the differences between Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde are of a physical nature only. However I am of the school that putting down bad writing to poor characterization does not make the writers look any better.

Now you're no doubt thinking that a film that is supposed to rely on action doesn't need complex writing or characters that are anything more than over confident heroes and manic villains. Therein lies the problem though; like the last film to really butcher the Jeckyll and Hyde persona The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing: The London Assignment doesn't work as an action movie. Besides the poor quality animation is the fact that the choreography of these scenes is beyond lazy, figuring that it's enough to merely have 2 characters jumping around fighting while the screen changes viewpoint too fast too really discern anything.

Even the films one big selling point; Hugh Jackman as the voice of Van Helsing, failed to generate any real quality. I like him just fine as a live action superstar, but he just fails to throw himself into the voice acting. His wise cracks, sarcasm and general charisma don't shine through in the same way as they likely do in the film because this is an animated flick and requires much more exaggerated voice acting to really get anything across. The rest of the voice acting (With a cast carried over from the film whenever characters were re-used) was pretty much the same, only lacking even the little hints at the natural charisma Jackman has at his disposal.

At the end of the day Van Helsing: The London Assignment is not exactly unbearable. At just half an hour it's hard to imagine anyone getting restless, but it's not really enjoyable either. It could have made a fine little title for the kids, except that the content features a little moderate violence and as such is only really suitable for the over 12's that will be bored by the whole thing.

Van Helsing: Behind The Screams was a big documentary. 30 minutes spent with the sexiest narrator in history. I enjoyed it too; more than I did the actual feature at least, in the same way as I always enjoy these documentaries for a Summer's movie. He may not know depth but I find his live action films to be generally fun and his very passion is one of the reasons for this. The way he feels about the story, his excitement for everything that he wants to achieve is carried over to a very informative look into cast and the details behind the effects work. To be honest this feature would be better suited to the DVD of the film itself as is it does kind of show every effect the film is offering, and the effects are supposed to be the reason to see his films.

The Making Of Van Helsing The Game should really do what it says on the tin. Except that it doesn't, it's not until well into the final third of this 6 minute feature that the weapons get a mention. Nobody bothers to talk about the graphics, or controls and whatnot. Instead they spend the whole time talking about the story that was covered by the feature on the film, and for some reason seem convinced that having a story is somehow unique to their game. Get with the time guys.

Vivendi Games Trailer is a fast paced, well edited trailer for a game that does not really interest me at all. Van Helsing. (In case you hadn't guessed)

I didn't really enjoy this thing. No doubt an attempt to ape the popularity of The Animatrix but lacking a main film that needs any extra exposition. As cartoony as the film will no doubt be I suspect that; like all Summer's movies, it'll make a better live action cartoon than cartoon cartoon any day. The disk itself had a decent transfer, but ultimately lacked any special features an the animated short at hand.