Not bad, despite what's being said

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2004)

The early reviews for this are all over the map, with lots of pans. I frankly don't get it. Let's face it, folks, the progenitors of this film were B movies long before they became "classics" of the horror genre. As such, they endured decades of critical scorn before being appreciated. Will this achieve the same fate? Probably not, but it's not the turkey everyone is saying!
Disclaimer: I'm a boomer. I grew up with high-concept silly movies and learned how to adopt a mindset to appreciate them. Shoot, I was even able to find fun with "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (LXG) which was, by any measure, a much worse movie than this.
The tactic here is relentless action which sweeps you along without giving you too much time to think of what's illogical (other than the mere existence of vampires, werewolves, et al). Is some of the action silly? Sure. But is it entertaining? It can be if you let it. Aside from the obvious derivations, there are, as others have noted, quotes and homages from a variety of other films. Those are fun. There is comic relief, mostly from David Wenham but also from Hugh Jackman himself. Is the heroine totally implausible? Duh, of course! But that's part of her job. Classic horror films have two types of women - crones and bimbos. Since there's no one comparable to Maria Ouspenskaya these days, we have to just settle for the babe.
I rated this 8 out of 10. It's good mindless entertainment that pays due respect to its origins. Where it falls down is both at the very beginning and near the end. In the beginning, there's a sequence with Van Helsing and Mr Hyde/Dr. Jekyll where Mr. Hyde is every bit as overdone as in LXG. At the end, the temptation once again becomes too great and the climactic battle is between CGI creatures. Well done, but a bit disappointing. The very end of the movie is its Achilles heel - it's a real downer and probably hurts the word of mouth for the show.
Should you see it? If you liked "The Mummy", you may well like this. Just don't be too swayed by the critics. Many of them were wrong about the original Universal horror films, as they have been later over other FX-laden films. Especially if you're of boomer age like me, you may find yourself having a pretty good time with it.