Van Helsing: The London Assignment (2004)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Memorable, crazy movie

just watch it!

Blistering performances.

The character of Abraham Van Helsing is quite common among horror enthusiasts. Being that he has been portrayed in several live-action films along side his arch foe Count Dracula; he was bound to be focused on at some point. As for animation, this is probably one of the very few he's been seen in. As for why this particular production was made, remains to be understood. In some ways it runs along the same lines as Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006) and Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (2007); they have continuity with their live-action counterparts but aren't clear in their target audience. There's enough to enjoy on this little feature for 30 minutes but as for setting up a universe for itself is a totally different problem.The plot starts with mysterious bloody off screen deaths of young women walking around the streets of London at the wrong hours of the night. Turns out that Dr. Jekyll (Dwight Schultz) and his alter ego Mr. Hyde (Robbie Coltrane) are up to no good. During the day Dr. Jekyll plays doctor to an ill and elderly Queen Victoria (Tara Strong) and secretly loves her. However in order to cure the Queen of her sickness, the likes of Mr. Hyde is needed to harvest the youth of other women. Enter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) and his partner Carl (David Wenham) to search and find out all that has happened. For what it's worth, this half an hour feature gets to the point quickly. It literally feels like a Saturday morning cartoon. In some ways this is good and others not. The pro of it being 30 minutes is that the plot, written by Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Judith Reeves-Stevens is clean cut and gets to the point. The con to this is that the introduction to Van Helsing and his partner come out of nowhere. Plus, the side character of Carl feels even less familiar because he just feels like some nobody.Direction was headed by Sharon Bridgeman (her first time) who normally works in the animation department and has been apart of projects like Shark Tale (2004) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010). With those kinds of projects in mind, Bridgeman probably had a good idea of what she wanted to have in this short. Combine that with Jeff Starling as the visual development artist and there is something unique to see. The overall animation is all right for the most part. There are some areas that look somewhat choppy but that's mostly on the scenes that do not involve as much movement. When it comes to action the animation becomes much better. This is not only in fluidity but also in 3D rendering effects. For these key scenes the blending isn't the strongest, but it is that uneasy blending that makes it interesting to see because it is 2D on top of 3D. Most of the time this really wouldn't be a thing to praise but it's intriguing enough to look at so there must be something to benefit from it. It's not distracting at all.Along with the animation, the actual action sequences entertain. Helsing has his weapons and can maneuver around with ease. There's a nicely paced scene that involves a chase between Helsing and Hyde on an old subway (which also includes that 3D rendering mentioned before). That looked like fun. Surprisingly for action, there are also some pretty graphic images. If this were a live-action film it would've been rated R. The way the women are killed by Hyde are not clean and there is blood shown. See how it parallels the Hellboy animated films? Who exactly is this animated film made for again? Obviously not all animated films are made for kids but if the live-action sequel has a rating of PG-13 what's going on here then? Why is Universal Studios not budging their nose in on this production but can do it for the story that comes after this? Let's be consistent guys.The voice acting is well casted. Hugh Jackman has his moments of some funny one liners as Helsing and has acceptable chemistry with his lesser skilled companion Carl who also has moments of quirkiness. Tara Strong as Queen Victoria appropriately plays the role like any actress would. Dwight Schultz as Dr. Jekyll is an excellent choice considering Schultz has a lot of experience in voice work and has voiced numerous characters ages old and new. Robbie Coltrane as Mr. Hyde was another suitable casting decision. Taking into account the actual size of Coltrane seems like the only legitimate actor to take on Hyde due to his brute strength and deep voice. Even John DiMaggio has a small role although I'm curious if DiMaggio could've topped Coltrane as Mr. Hyde. The music composed by John Van Tongeren was okay but anonymous. It had all the sounds of orchestra but lacked a main theme or any cues that were memorable.It's music and writing is a little above average only because of the amount of time given for this whole feature being a half-hour. There isn't much for background to the main characters and the violence is questionable when it comes to audience viewing. However, the digital renderings mixed with animation is unique, the voice-over work is good and the action is fun.

"The London Assignment" is an animated short film that runs for roughly half an hour and came out almost the exact same time as the movie about the title character Van Helsing. Hugh Jackman also does the voice acting in this one here and there are a couple more familiar names such as Robbie Coltrane from the Harry Potter movies or Tara Strong who has been extremely prolific in voice acting for a long time now. Unfortunately, I was not impressed really by any of the aspects in this film. That includes the story, the characters and the animation. The only thing that director Sharon Bridgeman sort-of succeeded with was making this a fairly atmospheric watch and it was an interesting combination of the supernatural aspects and very traditional aspects history-wise such as Queen Victoria. But that's pretty much it. I would recommend this only to the most hardcore fans of Van Helsing. Everybody else does not need to see it.

This was actually a really interesting storyline, acting similar to a prequel for the live action movie. (And if you have not seen the live action show, then go and see it!) Yet, if you haven't seen the actual live action show, you will not miss anything in this one. Helsing is sent on assignment by the Vatican to find a killer in London who was using dark arts. I love how they created the story, making some things seem as though they lumped Jack the Ripper and Hyde together.There are some problems I have with the cartoon vs. Live action though. In the cartoon, they give Hyde a reason for killing the people he did, he killed only women and took their souls to make the Queen young. In the Live action, he has killed numerous people including men and animals along with the women. In fact, he had killed more men then women. They do not explain why he did so, so naturally it gives him more of a monstrous thought to our heads. Also, when they do meet, Hyde seems to have not much understanding of who Helsing is although in the Cartoon, they do meet and get rather close to each other. I do like the little intention that they did meet at one time in London vive the bullet wound in Hyde's arm, but other then that, its as though they have not met. Also, Carl had already been following Helsing in London so why did he not go to Paris with him to follow after Hyde. When we do see Carl, he seems to not know anything about going out with Helsing to fight.The artwork looks a lot like a comic book rendition of the characters in the show, giving it the same air as another that I looked at called Mosaic (from Stan Lee). Even though its pretty good, there are some problems where most of the backgrounds are really well detailed making the characters seem to fall flat at times. There are also some really strange lines that come from under the eyes and down the cheek on most of the characters, and sadly, it looks as though they have been cut there. It's odd because no piece of the human body would make that line on the face. When there is some slight CG to the show, it does look pretty good though stands out. It doesn't 'fit' as it were. The last few clips are actually done way to fast, like the frames were placed in a little wrong.The voices are the same as the movie and so of course match the fun and laughter that you get within the movie as well as the deep drama. Hugh Jackman has one of the most epic voices along with the small witty nature that works well with Helsing, David Wenham has the perfect witty counter voice to Jackman even if he can get a bit whinny, and Robbie Coltrane has a rather strong voice for Hyde. Now for the voices only in this cartoon version, I wasn't that keen on Tara Strong's rendition of Young Queen Victoria. She just seemed rather stupid and more childish then she should of.

This over all prequel to the motion picture is just an overblown fluff piece that could have been saved or perhaps will show up on the eventual DVD release of Van Helsing.The animated feature is nicely done and the sound is great. The supliments are more or less a kind of press junket for the feature film follow-up.At only a half-hour running time, you wish is was at least 80 mins. Hugh Jackman and the cast provide voice talent to bring this 'teaser' to life.3 1/2 stars out of 5