Van Helsing: Is It All That?

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2004)

The quick answer is yes, it IS all that.
I was so tired from work I nearly fell asleep, but not because it was boring... I was just tired. Make no mistake, this is a 4 star classic as far as animated live-action movies go. They went for great screen classic. In fact... and I do not mean this sarcastically, one gets the feeling they wrote up their all-time list of favorite film scenes on 3x5 cards and then re-wrote these scenes and wove them into the story. Clicked on Final Draft's Vampire template and whacked their story into shape.
While that aspect felt a little contrived, they pull it off, so if you like CG you're in for a great ride.
Watch for the very well-executed homage to classic horror genre in the opening sequence, and then keep score of the nods to such films like as Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Ghost, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Fifth Element, LOTR, The Matrix, Aliens, James Bond, Alice in Wonderland, Batman, Spider-man, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Wires, the Hulk -- elements of all these films abound. Hulk because we think ILM used the same root level CG figures for some of the Van Helsing characters... that unmistakably squat froglike quality that digital Hulk had? No question, they used the same engine to drive Dr. Jeckyll and the Wolfman.
There were also some wonderful drones that reminded me of steam age jawas. Or perhaps more like steam age ugnaughts. Kate B. kept making me think of a low-budget Catherine Zeta Jones, and Dracula's brides reminded me of Glinda the Good Witch's appearances also in Oz. Everything was like something, come to think of it... but it was vibrant and lush, only the cheezy end sequence was cheap. Some very good LITTLE touches. The critics are probably going to be tough, but I bet it's gonna do boffo b.o. - I envision teenaged girls weeping at the sappy tacked on ending, and OMG the video game is gonna be very fun - especially from the dracula's bride character vantage - night vision mode where you can see the blood pumping in people's veins. Go See! Go See!