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a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets
to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster
clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director
Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault
and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million
action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits)
with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage
to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot
pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against
Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly
blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour
parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn
Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI
animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate
Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley),
Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged
progeny, and there's so much good-humored action that you're
guaranteed to be thrilled and exhausted by the time the 10-minute
end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist
horror folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds,
but this colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for
kicks) will never, ever bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed.
-- Jeff Shannon
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