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I just picked up the animated prequel to the movie, Van Helsing: The London Project. It looks like it's drawn by the same guys who do X-Men Evolution, which is a good thing, because even if that X cartoon is crap (which it is), it still looks great. I hope the writers for this animated feature are leaps and bounds better.
I'll be back later tonight with impressions.
?? Are you talking about a comic book here, or an actual cartoon show?Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable
It's a straight-to-DVD animated prequel. I'm interested in how it turned out. Hugh Jackman even repirised his role as far as the voice acting goes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406310/
Looks like they are milking the franchise for all it's worth for now until everyone realizes that it's not an awesome movie.
Saw it last night and it was pretty shitty. For everything good there was 2 things bad.
Still better than LXG, but not as good as Monster Squad.
CV's Van Helsing: The London Assignment impressions --
Alright. Let me begin by saying this animated feature is crap. I wanted to love it, but it did so much to totally destroy any semblance of continuity that the movie established (which was already fleeting, as it were), not to mention that, as Dolemite phrased it, "[...] there's suspending disbelief and then there's what this movie asks you to do."
First, I'll expolre the continuity problems. Instead of "the Cardinal" being the one who wanted the monsters dead at any cost, and Van Helsing feeling pity for them because he knows they were once men, like himself, the roles are flip-flopped. The Cardinal sees fit to tell our hero that every man deserves a shot at salvation, and Van Helsing simply cannot wait to plug someone for the smallest of reasons. I didn't like that. I also didn't like how Van Helsing was using the gas-powered crossbow, when in the movie it had clearly just been invented, and Van Helsing reacts as if he's never seen it before.
I also have problems with Dr. Jekyll's character. In the original story, Dr. Jekyll is a mild mannered, well behaved, kind old fuddy-duddy who is held captive by his multiple personality disorder that mannifests itself as the grusome Mr. Hyde. The alchemic potion is a metaphor for any number of permissions one grants their "dark side" to take over, and it makes for quite the interesting story, considering the book was written during the Victorian Era, when science was just begining to come into its own. In this animated feature, Dr. Jekyll is just as evil as Mr. Hyde, and the only reason he uses the potion is to become a hulking power-house, not because "the voice in his head wouldn't stop." They totally destroyed his character. Color me pissed off. This also makes at solid attempt at destroying Van Helsing's aforementioned disposition toward mercy, because if Jekyll is every bit as evil as Hyde, then what pity is there to have for the "man he once was?" None. Yet Van Helsing seems to regret killing him still.
And then there's the plot. Jekyll is in love with the Queen of England (Victoria), and so, since he's the royal doctor, has decided to concoct an alchemical draught to restore her youth and beauty (as she's 70 years old at present), and marry her after he's given it to her. He makes this potion by combining water and . . . well, they never tell you what the Hell the other component is, but it seems to be the "life force," or "soul" of all of Hyde's victems. You see, Hyde, who shares the intellect and personallity of Jekyll (so why the different name?), has been hopping around London, victimising young women in order to steal their "essence," or life force or whatever the Hell he's stealing from them, to make this eternal youth type potion. You want to know what he does to steal it? He just opens this rediculously normal vial and in it flows. No magic, no science. It just flows right into the little container and the victim then decomposes right before his very eyes. WTF?! So in swings Van Helsing and puts a stop to it, and then the movie picks up where the animation left off.
And then there's Jekyll/Hyde's zombie minons and underground lair in the middle of a lava flow. :wtf:
The whole thing, not unlike the movie, feels rushed and underdeveloped. Though had they explained some of the shenannigans, it probably would have made things worse.
Now, this thing did have it's good bits. All of the characters that appear in the movie (Carl the Friar, Van Helsing, The Cardinal, and Hyde) are all voiced by their big screen counter-parts, which I liked. Also, a couple cool new gadgets were introduced, which I also liked. The animation was alright, though I've definitely seen better, and the CG was integrated smoothly, though they abused the Hell out of it. Like, Heat-Guy J CG abuse. But like I said, it's done nicely.
The best part of the DVD, and what makes it not a total waste of the $10 bucks I spent on it (though I wouldn't recomend anyone rush out and buy it; it's more like consolation than anything else, since I was so disappointed with the film, it was nice that the DVD had something to offer that I was interested in) was the extras. The interview with Hugh Jackman was neat, but short, and he praises the animated feature (of course), so it isn't all too enlightening. The making of the game feature is pretty cool, as the actors and developers all have something to say, and I like the game, so it was neat seeing Jackman and the guy who played Frankenstein's Monster act out their parts and to see how animated they were in doing so. But the best bonus was the making of feature on the movie itself. They explored set design, character concepts, fliming techniques, etc. I believe it ran about an hour or so, and there were interviews done with every major actor in the movie, sans Igor.
So, I picked it up for $10 dollars, on sale at Sun Coast, and it was disappointing, but not a total waste. I recomend steering clear, unless you really want to see how bad it is, or you have a thing for behind the scenes features.
The thing about the over the top homage story is that it really wasn't a huge homage. It wasn't the monster movie equivalent of Kill Bill that it should have been. Most people had no clue if this really was created to respect the old movies or if it really was bad...
Some of the old Dracula movies were great and the acting was admirable for the time. If he wanted to do it in the style of old horror films he really dropped the ball in a lot of aspects.
Capt. Veggie: How long is the animated feature?
LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable
0wn3d by buying everything in sight.
I went in expecting to see monsters beat the fuck out of each other and that's exactly what I got. I left the theater pleased.
There was a bit too much talking and acting and I was rather unhappy with the too-long and too-cheesy ending, but the way it was handled Blade 2-style with people either kicking ass, looking for ass to kick, or if not doing either of those then talking about whose ass to kick brought me joy in a brain-dead kind of way. Certainly not fine cinema, but I'll definately be buying the DVD at a discount for those days when I don't want to hear actors and just need to see stuff die.
Unfortunately Mech, there werent that much stuff to die. Dracula and 3 brides are pretty much all monsters, oh yeah, add poor brother Wolfie to the list too. Blade 2 on the other hand had TON of things for Blade to plow through, and better action as well.
CV, By the description, Animated prequel sucks ass, and I pretty much expected that. I might still rent it just to see how bad it is, but no way it warrants a purchase.