Not a bad point, OM, but (and I speak only for myself here) I can handle and enjoy children's movies if they're well-made (the Harry Potter series; the new Percy Jackson movie; several of the Disney animated features, etc.). Van Helsing did have some decent sequences that appealed to me, others I have to question whether or not kids of a certain age should see it (just as in The Wolf Man, my wife and I observed a few people leaving with their kids after the first gory scene).

How do you reconcile Sommers' statement that Joe references? If indeed he was trying for a homage to the old Universal films, his brush drew pretty broadly and sometimes overly manic.

... Reed