Van Helsing: a warning.

It's not as good as you're hoping it will be. It's not as bad as you're afraid it will be. Is it any good? Well, 'good' is about as relative a term as it's possible to get. Are you expecting a passably entertaining movie about a guy hunting Dracula, one wherein the special effects consistently outshine the actual characters? Then yes, it's good.

My big problem with the movie is that I didn't like the way they portrayed Dracula. He was an annoying little man who jumped from apathy to histrionics and back again with little to no reason, and occationally turned into a batlike monster. Now, the way Frankenstein's monster was played was brilliant. Touchingly human, intelligent and friendly. He also looked so amazing that I went out and purchased the action figure right away, so that didn't hurt. Had the movie been about Frankie, that would have been a good thing, but it's not. It's about this irritating jerk who they say is Dracula, even though he's not charming or sexy or mysterious, or any of the things Dracula should be.

Comparisons to LXG are unwelcome, but fair. Ah, well. Remember how awesome "Punisher" was?