Van Helsing: La misión de Londres

It is an excellent short movie. Van Helsing look much better than the live action movie. And In the animated short movies Van Helsing already have all those weapon what he used latter in the live action movie. I just like it. But I think instead of a short animated movie, they should made a full length animated movie. They could have tell the doctor story about how he started his laboratory and research. How he met the queen of England. They could have told the story about how Van Helsing become a monster hunter. There is just so many story to tell. If they could just make a animated series of Van Helsing, it would be much much better. I have seen many short movies but Van Helsing: The London Assignment was one of the best. Universal Picture should consider to make an full length animated movie based on Van Helsing. People would love it.

There's this so called one word review: awesome!

This is a good model by how short animes should be made. Lots of action, very nice scenes featuring some more interactive combat action. Hugh Jackman made a good choice by lending his voice to the main character, Van Helsing and as I'm seeing this the day after I saw the full movie piece at the cinema, it just feels incredibly well done, Carl, Gabriel, all it's characters are in shape, just as I would imagine them myself animated.

Just see this, I did love it, but perhaps it might be because I saw the full piece yesterday, I don't know. Anyhow, this is a remarkable piece in the short anime category section, well worth it's 30 minutes!

It's worth a rent. The art is not as bad as people here have been making it out to be. (If you want to see truly bad animation, watch Hunchback of Notre Dame 2). It wasn't, you know, Shinichirô Watanabe or Hayao Miyazaki but it had a more adult look then American made kids cartoons. The animation was real similar to what you see on X-Men Evolution, only much darker and grittier. Oddly enough, It looks almost like they're emulating the anime Helsing in color tone.

The acting is limited by the time. Hugh Jackman is a novice at voice acting and it sort of shows. He sounds a little wooden. David Wenham is very nice and has the best lines in the cartoon. ("No real lady would be caught dead wi-- perhaps not the best choice of words...") However, Robbie Coltrane was sorely underused. His vocal characterization of Mr Hyde was so great in that opening scene of the film and in this you can barely tell its him he has so few lines.

The plot is almost better than the films, and contains a lot more history and the steam-punk like flair that made me love the film and other things like Leauge of Extrordinary Gentlemen (Not the movie though.. it was horrid). I wish they had made it a full length animated feature, because the plot definitely had room to be expanded into 90 minutes.

In all, it was very good for an American produced adult animation. Too bad Universal is connected with Nickelodian and not Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network, because I think a Vanhelsing Animated series would play really well in Adult Swim.

Van Helsing – The London Assignment (2004)

Universal – DVD – D: Sharon Bridgeman – 3 / 4

An evil murderer is stalking the streets of London killing women and stealing their very life essence. Mr. Hyde is doing the handiwork for his doctor alter ego Jekyll who is using the lifeforce to make his beloved Queen Victoria young again. The Vatican sends out its' secret weapon Gabriel Van Helsing to handle the beast and save the man. I wasn't too fond of the Van Helsing film but I did enjoy this animated prequel more. The animation is decent the singular plot of Mr. Hyde is better than the convoluted and constipated form of the sequel.

I have seen "The London assignment" and it is a pretty good movie but i think that it is too short. if they worked out the story just a little bit more and took out some of the action (not that i hate action in a movie, but because the movie would been better if the story was more developed).

For the rest this movie rocked, and is a very good prequel to "Van Helsing".

There are also a few anachronisms between the to movies: like Van Helsing already has the gass-powered crossbow in "The London assignment" but in "Van Helsing" he still got to get it.

But I would give this movie a big thumbs up.