Van Helsing: The London Assignment

Plot synopsis:
Monster hunter, Gabriel Van Helsing and friar Carl travel to London to investigate a series of horrific, and decidedly supernatural murders, being committed by the mad scientist Dr. Jekyll, in the form of his evil alter-ego, Mr. Hyde. When tracing Hyde to his underground fortress, Van Helsing and Carl find a young woman who claims to be Queen Victoria, and they discover that Dr. Jekyll is in love with the Queen. In order to keep her young and thus immortal, she has been given a potion by Dr. Jekyll that turns her into a young woman for one night. But, in order to create the potion which causes the transformations, Dr. Jekyll needs the drained souls of his freshly killed victims and thus the killings will never stop. Dr. Jekyll then kidnaps Victoria, using the Golden Jubilee Balloon to escape. Van Helsing uses his grappling gun to follow the balloon then proceeds to board it. In the balloon, Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde to kill Van Helsing and crashes the Balloon in the process. While fighting on the in-construction Tower Bridge, Mr. Hyde is shot through the arm but manages to escape. Upon returning Victoria to Buckingham Palace, Van Helsing says that daybreak will break the enchantment, returning her to her real age. To reward him, Victoria kisses him, at the precise moment of daybreak, causing her old-self to slap him and call for guards. Van Helsing sends word back to Vatican City about what has happened while he tracks Jekyll to Paris.

Tags: murder

Review:
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..
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.
Probably one of the best short animes I've seen in a very long time.
There's this so called one word review: awesome!This is a good model by how short animes should be made.
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.
Oddly enough, It looks almost like they're emulating the anime Helsing in color tone.The acting is limited by the time.
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..
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 / 4An evil murderer is stalking the streets of London killing women and stealing their very life essence.
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..
It's short and it contains a lot of nonstop action, awesome animation, and reasonably good dialog.
Hugh Jackman did a wonderful job in lending his voice to the character Van Helsing.
It explains the beginning in the Van Helsing movie.I love it.
The plot isn't that complicated, so it doesn't require much concentration to unscramble the story.Overall, this is an excellent prequel to the original Van Helsing movie.I'll give this movie an 8/10 and a pat on the back..
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.
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.
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.
They could have told the story about how Van Helsing become a monster hunter.
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.
i give van Helsing a rate of 10.
All I wanted to say was that I totally love van Hesling the film especially with Hugh Jackman in it.
My bedroom is full of Hugh Jackman and van Helsing posters.
I love the film van Helsing I cant stop talking about it at school my friends get sick of me.
And I like his voice in it too I think it makes him sound even sexier than he is now and he looks fit in long hair and leather suits and jackets.
I just love the film if I named all the parts I like in the story a person who is reading this would be there all day and all night.
But she should have stayed alive I think then there could have been a van Helsing 2 out but with a different monster in it like the screaming women who's scream is so loud they kill a human.
And the same goes to Kate (Anna) she is beautiful and the best and a great actress Hugh and Kate make a good acting couple in the film.
I am looking at Hugh on the computer now at his pictures on the internet and Anna they both look good in the film together it is just a great film with them to in.
But the person that got me on to the film van Helsing is my English teacher because we watched the film loads of times in the class and I just started loving it the first time I saw it.
But they will this time.but when I was talking about the van Helsing 2 about how I make it up is because I write stories about things I imagine but when I go to bed that's what gives me ideas because when I sleep I dream and I get my ideas from my dreams and I have started writing a story about van Helsing 2 I think its going to be great.
A first look at Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing.
The character of Abraham Van Helsing is quite common among horror enthusiasts.
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.
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.
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).
When it comes to action the animation becomes much better.
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).
If this were a live-action film it would've been rated R.
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?
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.
However, the digital renderings mixed with animation is unique, the voice-over work is good and the action is fun..
They completely destroyed an all time classic -- "Frankenstein."  As for the other horror characters in the film, what were they thinking???The special effects were nothing to rave about either.
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.
The plot just seems like a spoof of Moore's work.With the characters, I love the relationship between Van Helsing and Carl.
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.
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 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.
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..
Van Helsing: The London Assignment.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
I did like it though it needs to be seen as its own I think.
This was actually a really interesting storyline, acting similar to a prequel for the live action movie.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
That includes the story, the characters and the animation.
I would recommend this only to the most hardcore fans of Van Helsing.
When I heard that a anime prequel to Van Helsing was release I had to check it out.Van Helsing 2004 is one of my favorite films and this film was a good one as well.
Van Helsing: The London Assignment is a prequel to the events of Van Helsing the movie where Dr.Jekyll/Mr.Hyde was the first villain of the film this one helps explain how they first met.Hugh Jackman reprise his role as Van Helsing in this anime prequel to the film.In this anime the story is that Van Helsing must investigate a series of murders where women have been drain of their life force.
When Dr. Jekyll begins to make a formula to restore the youth of the Queen.The animators made sure to keep the film in the dark setting since the story plot is dark as well.They really took the time to make the shadow effect work when it was needed.The score is pretty good as well, each piece of music helps tells the story of the film.
The voice acting helps the story as well which is very important in making a animation film.Also the DVD comes with a nice collection of bonus features like behind the scenes for both this film and the Van Helsing film itself along with behind the scenes of the game.So for a short film it is very good work with helping the story of Van Helsing.So all in all if you're a fan of anime or Van Helsing you'll enjoy this film.I give Van Helsing The London Assignment a 10 out of 10