Really, what the Helsing?

After advertising as a movie monster royale, "Van Helsing" had so much promise behind it. The DVD follows in the same vein; it looks really good but that's about all there is to it. \nEveryone comments how "Lord of the Rings" has upped the ante on graphics and CG-animated characters, but the "LOTR" special editions have raised the bar on self-commentary. While there are conversations about using real actors to act, while using motion to capture (much like Gollum), most of the behind-the-scenes featurette shows cast members congratulating themselves and commenting how "Van Helsing" offers the best special effects ever made. Another extra that is a letdown is the "castle tour." It offers no real insight on the set design or even a fantasy-type tour, as is common on the Harry Potter DVDs. Instead two areas of Dracula's castle are shown with the camera being a first-person point of view while "Dracula" talks ominously. Although if you want to see Hugh Jackman trip several times, the blooper reel will fill that need. Note: another feature is that the DVD will play the first level of the "Van Helsing" video game on the Xbox, but I do not own one so I could not review this feature.\nAs a movie "Van Helsing" could have been really entertaining. The graphics were very great (but not the best ever as they might say), and the premise behind the movie had the chance to be a very good story. However director/writer Stephen Sommers uses the story to usher in a series of visual images, and the dialogue is laughable at times. In one scene, the undertaker talks about how vampire wouldn't kill him and he only lasts thirty seconds longer. \nCredit should definitely go to the art direction and visual effects people who make several scenes, such as the windmill with Frankenstein which looks like it was taken out of the original 1930s versions. The overall experience of the movie and the DVD is an extreme letdown. While the possibility of seeing a plethora of Halloween characters duke it out seems exciting, "Van Helsing" fails to capitalize on it.