If anything positive is to come out of writer/director Stephen Sommer's overblown, and quite lame, mixing of the classic Universal monster movies Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man it's that people will be interested in going back and viewing the original classics.

Hugh Jackman takes on the role of Van Helsing (and he's certainly no Peter Cushing in the Hammer Dracula movies, heck he's no Christopher Plummer in Dracula 2000!) who's been put to task by the Catholic church to eliminate monsters. After making short work on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a decent action sequence set in a Paris church he's sent off to Transylvania where he has to take on the mighty Dracula (played by Richard Roxburgh who's totally unsuited and makes one of the weakest Dracula's in horror film history) who's trying to harness the power of the werewolf and Frankenstein in order to bring his offspring, which numbers in the thousands, to life. It's up to our grungy, "hip" costumed monster slayer Jackman and Dracula descendant Kate Beckinsale to try and stop it.

There's so much wrong with this movie it's hard to know where to begin. Firstly, this is a big-budgeted Hollywood movie - that means there's not much sense, lots of effects (which continue to give me good reason to dislike CGI effects, though they're not nearly as bad here as they were in The Hulk), a lot of jokey humour that doesn't wash and a plot that's ridiculously thin and totally secondary.

Sure, there's quite bit of action that's not too shabby and Sommers shows a bit of respect for the origins of his movie with the black and white opening sequence; but the hero in this tale is weak and underdeveloped, the villains have not bite (no, that's not a pun) whatsoever and the entire thing feels like the lame "Summer Blockbuster" it's intended to be.

It's too bad too, because the character of Van Helsing could be basis for one kick-ass film - I mean look at Cushing's version; all he wanted was to eliminate Dracula, he didn't have time for weak love interests! Sommers' version of The Mummy turned out better, here it just doesn't work out. (Chris Hartley, 5/7/04)

Directed By: Stephen Sommers.
Written By: Stephen Sommers.

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Being a newer big-budgeted movie the picture here is pretty much flawless. It's clean, crisp, and doesn't contain any grain or dirt.

Extras: If you're a fan of the movie then the extras Universal have supplied here should satisfy as we get a trailer (plus the TV spot shown during the Super Bowl), a preview of Shrek 2, a demo of the Van Helsing video game for Xbox (pop it into your console and play the first level), a feature called "Explore Dracula's Castle" that is an interactive 3D tour of the castle with voice snippets, a blooper reel with the pre-requisite dopey sound effects, a featurette on the effects, a "You Are In The Movie" featurette that shows the film from the angles of various hidden cameras - this also shows-up as an exhanced track on the disc giving you the opportunity while viewing to click your remote and see more footage, a "Legend of Van Helsing" featurette that's less a "legend" and more of a "stroke the ego of Hugh Jackman" extra, and finally there's two listenable commentary tracks one with writer-director Sommers and producer Rob Ducsay and the other with the actors (Richard Roxburgh, Shuler Hensley, Will Kemp) who played the "big three" monsters in the movie.