Product Description

Combining thrilling adventure and cutting edge animation, Van Helsing: The London Assignment is the original prequel that unlocks the incredible story behind Van Helsing and Mr. Hyde. Deep in the heart of London, the demonic creature, Mr. Hyde, terrorizes the late-night streets in a haunting crime spree. With the city in a panic, the Knights of the Holy Order send Van Helsing into London with the mission of tracking down and capturing the evil Mr. Hyde. Featuring the voice of Hugh Jackman, this original animated film will thrill you with non-stop adventure and give you an inside look into the world of Van Helsing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53019 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2004-05-11
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 33 minutes

Amazon.com
Van Helsing: The London Assignment is a wild and clever animated prequel, slightly more than a half-hour, to the live-action hit film about 19th-century monster hunter Dr. Gabriel Van Helsing. Set just before actor Hugh Jackman's dark hero heads off for battle with Count Dracula in Eastern Europe, The London Assignment finds Van Helsing attempting to stop Dr. Jekyll, and the latter's terrifying associate, Mr. Hyde, from their bizarre and bloody quest to turn septuagenarian Queen Victoria into a lovelorn girl again. While the widescreen artistry is often brutal, it is also breathtaking, especially in a fantastic chase sequence involving train cars. Besides Jackman, several actors from the feature lend voices to their cartoon counterparts, including Robbie Coltrane (as Hyde), Alun Armstrong (as Cardinal Jinette), and David Wenhman (as sidekick Carl). Special features include an incisive interview with Jackman about his character. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Typical of genre but good...
Reminds me a lot of just about all superhero cartoons. Interesting mixture of American animation and Japanese coloring and pencils, enhanced with computer animation (very cool!). The story is a little stretched, and doesn't make much sense (concerning the reason Hyde would want to make the queen younger; hello, he's still an old fart headed to a grave), but it held my interest and was nicely traditional but original.
The dialogue is usually pretty clever, even Hyde gets in a few funny lines.
The action is refreshingly American, meaning no stupid "action lines" in the background, or still action. Using Robbie Coltrane and Hugh Jackman (not to mention Dave Wenham) as primary voices added star power, and Jackman does a good job (you can feel his voice and personality overtake the animated Van Helsing).
The special features (including a making of the game featurette, which shows them converting the movie story to the game, and some sweet action scenes; a making of the movie featurette, which is good enough to be included on the motion picture itself, even if Josie Moran is extremely irratating; the animatics can only be appreciated by animators themselves). The interviews with Hugh Jackman are a nice insight into the character of Van Helsing, as well as Jackman himself. Interesting stuff, even if a little "fluffy", as one reviewer put it.
Overall, worth at least a rental (I bought it). A valuable addition to your collection of Van Helsing items, and fun to watch (over and over again in my case; 4 times in the rental period).

Better bonus features then features.
This is a 30 minute cartoon explaining why the movie "Van Helsing" begins in Paris with Van Helsing fighting Mr. Hyde. There is no need to go any deeper into the plot. What's worse than the plot is the animation, which is flat and looks cheep. It's so bad that the computer animated components stick out very badly in some of the scenes and clash with the backgrounds. If you are expecting quality along the lines of The Animatrix or HBO's Spawn series, lower your standards a bit. You will be less disappointed if you are expecting the quality of an after school special. The actors who play Van Helsing and Carl provide the voices for their animated counterparts which prevents the cartoon from being a complete waste of time. However, this was not directed by Stephen Sommers, but by former a story board artist, Sharon Bridgeman and it shows. The animation is stiff, but the backgrounds look good. The best thing about this DVD is the 30 minute feature on how they made the Van Helsing movie. It's far better then the cartoon. I can't recommend buying this DVD unless it's a freebie shrinked wrapped with the Van Helsing DVD when it's released. It's worth a rental if you have a coupon for a free rental.

Surprisingly Good
Being a Hugh Jackman fan and having only recently heard about "The London Assignment," the short animated prequel to the film "Van Helsing," I decided to see what it was like. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. The animation was better than I expected and much easier to watch than the animation in some of the segments of "The Animatrix." I also was intrigued by the story of Van Helsing's struggle against Mr. Hyde. It gave much needed background and meaning to the Paris chase sequence of the film and introduced viewers to Van Helsing's connection to Carl. I really wish that I had seen "The London Assignment" before I saw "Van Helsing" in theaters. However, the most enjoyable aspect of "The London Assignment" was the fact that the principal actors (Jackman, David Wenham, Robbie Coltrane) lent their voices to their respective characters. The dialogue was similar to that in the movie, especially between Van Helsing and Carl. :-)

Also worth mentioning are the bonus features on the disc. There is a fairly good making-of documentary that is approximately thirty minutes long. It has plenty of snippets of cast/crew interviews. There is a *very* brief (as in three-four minutes:-() interview of Hugh Jackman as well as another short documentary about the making of the "Van Helsing" video game. The only truly "London Assignment"-related bonus feature contrasts the early storyboard sketches with the final product.

Bottom Line: Entertaining for Hugh Jackman fans and "Van Helsing" fans. Definitely worth renting at least once, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it (well, not yet at least;-)).