Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!
Starring The
Voices Of: Hugh Jackman, Robbie Coltrane, and David Wenham
Writers: Judith
Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Director: Sharon
Bridgeman
Feature length: 33
minutes
Extras: Van
Helsing: Behind The Scenes Documentary, Animatic To Animation Comparison,
Interview With Hugh Jackman, Making Of The Van Helsing Video Game Featurette
Languages: English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles: English
Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Amaray
Keep Case
Sound: Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year of DVD
Release: 2004
Home Video
Distributor: Universal Studios Home Video
MPAA Rating: Not
Rated
Reviewer: Mark A.
Rivera
Short of reviewing
the film on DVD, which obviously won’t be for some time, I conclude my home
video and television tie-in in anticipation of Stephen Sommer’s “Van Helsing”
with a DVD review of Universal Studios Home Video’s upcoming animated prequel
entitled “Van Helsing: The London Assignment.” Hugh Jackman as well as other
actors that appear in the feature film also provided the voices for their
animated counterparts, which gives viewers a taste of what they can expect when
they see the live action feature film. Van Helsing is sent by the Vatican to
London to seek out Mr. Hyde, who has been murdering young women and stealing
their life-force energy that he can give it to Queen Victoria to bring back her
youth so he can marry her under his normal guise as Doctor Jekyll. Van
Helsing’s assignment is to catch Mr. Hyde and not to kill him. The cartoon is
a bit reminiscent of the “Batman” cartoons since essentially I felt this
story was more like a superhero adventure than anything else. Mr. Hyde looks a
bit like the Mr. Hyde as presented in last summer’s “League Of Extraordinary
Gentlemen.” The cartoon mixes traditional animation with some CGI animation
that doesn’t flow together as well as when it has been used on other animated
series like “Futurama” and “Star Wars: Clone Wars.” It almost looks like
it was rotoscoped at times.
For whatever the
reason is, “Van Helsing: The London Assignment” is presented in a
letterboxed (1.85:1) aspect ratio. While the picture quality still looks great,
I was very disappointed that the cartoon was not presented with anamorphic
enhancement. I mean if you are not going to take advantage of the anamorphic
enhancement DVD has to offer then why bother presenting it in a letterboxed
aspect ratio at all? It might as well have been presented in a (1.33:1) aspect
ratio as far as I’m concerned. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack is quite full with an enveloping three-dimensional feel. English
Captions for the hearing impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles are
encoded onto the DVD as options.
There is a quick
promo (1:06) for the “Special Edition” DVD reissue of “Pitch Black” and
the animated “Chronicles Of Riddick” companion, which I hope will be
presented in anamorphic widescreen please! Extra value features include an EPK
documentary looking at the production of “Van Helsing” complete with cast
and crew interview clips, behind the scenes footage and scenes from the film
(28:24). Next is a montage presenting scenes from the animated short with an
animatic window on the lower right hand corner for comparison (7:25). There is
also a short interview with Hugh Jackman (3:45) about providing the voice of
“Van Helsing” for the animated prequel and a look behind-the-scenes at the
making of the “Van Helsing” video game (6:52), which features interviews
with cast members who returned to provide their voices to their video game
incarnations as well as the game designers.
The menus are all
standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate and unlike the
animation presentation, the menus are presented in anamorphic widescreen. “Van
Helsing: The London Assignment” is a good teaser to get caught up in the hype
of the feature film that opens in theaters on Friday, May 7, 2004. “Van
Helsing: The London Assignment” officially makes it debut on DVD-Video on
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at retailers on and offline from Universal Studios Home
Video.
© Copyright 2004
By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!