Fantastic!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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

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 its about a mysterious string of supernatural murders, the film eschews mystery in favor of straight forward action. Most of the time is spent on elaborately animated chase sequences.Which brings me to the animation. Boasting a dark gritty look, CGI backgrounds blended seamlessly with the cel drawn characters, the animation is really well done stuff in this case. 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. It keeps the flaws of its live action counterpart, such as a over emphasis on action and less so on narrative and character depth, which is a huge pity. 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.

This is a good piece of anime. 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. It's better than sitting down and watching a long movie. Since this movie lasts only 33 minutes, it's definitely something to do when you have nothing to do. 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. On the other hand, that might not have been the best idea, since this is considerably easier to get through than the overblown and underinteresting movie... 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. It passes the time, but with the necessarily abrupt ending and the feeling that this is little more than a(nother) tie-in, it's hard not to be relieved that there won't be a sequel or a followup TV series. Then again, there's a sequel to "Baby Geniuses"...