Odelecol
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Maidexpl
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Phil Hubbs
In the same year that Stephen Sommers hyper animated movie burst into the cinema we also got this not quite so hyper actual animated prequel. The short story tells us what happened before Van Helsing arrived in Transylvania, his previous mission trying to capture Dr Jekyll in London...obviously.The plot for this is a bit far out if you ask me but I guess nothing is a surprise coming from Sommers. Van Helsing is investigating a very Jack the Ripper-esque affair where by people are being mysteriously murdered horribly and seemingly drained of their life force. Its nothing very original to be frank, at first I thought they really should of just used the Ripper as the villain its such an obvious copy. The thing is, Dr Jekyll is using this life force to make and keep his love...Queen Victoria, young and beautiful so they can be together. Yep Queen Victoria...as if right, but that's not all the story makes out that beneath Buckingham Palace there are some huge hellish fiery caves or catacombs where Dr Jekyll will live with his young Queen Vic, it looks like some kind of underground city you'd see in the old 80's cartoon Dungeons & Dragons. I know its just a prequel idea for an animation that will never see the light of day but it is suppose to be cannon and may have been made had the movie gone down better (dunno why it wasn't actually). But the plot is so dumb and feels like its been whipped up so fast just to get it out asap after the movie release.You only have to look at the DVD cover to see how poor it is, the artwork is lame and cheap looking, mind you the animation isn't much better. It really does look like an old children's cartoon that you'd watch on a Saturday morning, there is no flair, nothing quirky or unique about it, its just plain and average looking with really drab colours and layouts. On top of that the characters don't even resemble their movie character counterparts! Van Helsing is completely different looking facially and with straight hair, where as Wenham's character is now a young looking boy or someone in his early twenties. The only character accurately depicted is Mr Hyde who is spot on. Nothing wrong with that but only if they look good, these two heroes just look generic and boring.Basically the only reason they made this is because of the one line of dialog from the movie where Van Helsing says to Mr Hyde that he missed him in London (referring to gun shots). Mr Hyde then replies that he didn't miss, he actually hit him. So for some reason Sommers and co thought we needed to see some fast tracked back story about how Mr Hyde ended up getting shot by Van Helsing and the rest of that mission. Yeah OK not a bad idea if the mission was of any interest and not totally crap, oh and maybe if the animation was any good also. Just having the actual cast voice the characters in this doesn't mean it will be instantly worth it, the rest must be good too.4/10
xamtaro
Considering the very cartoony nature of the Van Helsing movie, it is not surprising that Van Helsing would translate better to animation than in a live action film.The writing and plot in this short animated film is on par with the actual movie(campiness and corny humour included) and serves as a lead in to the opening act of Van Helsing. Though its about a mysterious string of supernatural murders, the film eschews mystery in favor of straight forward action. Most of the time is spent on elaborately animated chase sequences.Which brings me to the animation. Boasting a dark gritty look, CGI backgrounds blended seamlessly with the cel drawn characters, the animation is really well done stuff in this case. Though the level of detail on the character models are quite minimal, the CGI backgrounds are rich and full of body and texture and the animation itself is smooth, utilizing a decently high frame rate in the action sequences. The chase on the train is by far one of the best animated sequences i've seen in a direct to video prequel feature. Some scenes do show some inconsistent quality here and there, like the underground cavern scene with the zombie knights, but those are largely forgettable.Alas, the film is really too short for its intriguing plot to properly unfold or to get any development from the main characters. It keeps the flaws of its live action counterpart, such as a over emphasis on action and less so on narrative and character depth, which is a huge pity. I would have given a higher rating if the animated film was longer and the characters, better developed.Van Helsing would have fared better as an animated miniseries as opposed to a big budget action movie. Overall, a beautifully animated short film with a simple, straight forward, easy to follow plot.
Victor Field
It occurs to me that Universal missed a trick with "Van Helsing: The London Assignment" - this animated featurette may as well have been released with "Van Helsing" as a supporting feature. On the other hand, that might not have been the best idea, since this is considerably easier to get through than the overblown and underinteresting movie... if only because there's less of it.Essentially setting up the Parisian showdown between Van Helsing and Mr. Hyde that kicks off the live-action extravaganza, the short subject indulges in the same advantage-taking of famed fictional characters as the movie - like the appalling Anthony Perkins vehicle "Edge Of Sanity," writers Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens take the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and add a bit of Jack the Ripper to the mix - and the same over-the-top action, only with plenty of Asian-flavoured animation in its scenes of violence and murder. Having Hugh Jackman, David Wenham and Robbie Coltrane repeating their roles from the movie (our hero, his assistant Carl and Mr. Hyde respectively) helps, and it's dramatically done, but the movie's biggest plus is that it's more straightforward and less determined to throw everything into the mix than the movie. It passes the time, but with the necessarily abrupt ending and the feeling that this is little more than a(nother) tie-in, it's hard not to be relieved that there won't be a sequel or a followup TV series. Then again, there's a sequel to "Baby Geniuses"...
DrakenaTheDestroyer
Caution, this comment may have spoilers to the film and referenced films. I've seen the two films based on Alan Moore's works, "From Hell" and "LXG", "Van Helsing: The London Assignment" is somewhat a combination of both. In the dark streets of London, someone murders these women by cutting their throats with a surgeon knife. Van Helsing is sent to catch the killer, a monster and someone skilled in medicine. Turns out the killer is the royal family's physician. The plot runs too close to the Jack the Ripper mystery in "From Hell" mixed with a hulk-like Mr. Hyde causing mayhem like in "LXG".Another reference to Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is that Carl disguises as a woman to draw out Hyde, which is similar to Mina Murray passing herself off as a prostitute in the comic books. The plot just seems like a spoof of Moore's work.With the characters, I love the relationship between Van Helsing and Carl. I thought Carl was quite funny, although I much prefer David Wenham as Faramir. I'm not pleased about Jekyll and Hyde, the screenwriters had made these classic literary figures much more demented than the "LXG" version of the characters. It's also quite odd that "From Hell" star Robbie Coltrane voices Hyde, at least he did not imitate Jason Flemyng's Hyde voice. Dr. Jekyll was along the lines of mad scientist, in the original novel, he was haunted by guilt from Hyde's horrible deeds which led to suicide.The animation was well done I admit. Lots of action and such, but parts such as zombies coming from the lava was kinda weird. 3/5 stars.
