"Dracula: The Dark Prince" is a take on the classic Bram Stoker story that perhaps shouldn't necessarily have had seen the light of day - pardon the pun.
Why? Well, because it just wasn't a fulfilling movie. There were several things that just weren't fully working out for this particular movie. First of all, lets start with a blonde Dracula. Well, sure, why not, but that just really took away that Romanian / Eastern European appearance that is a natural in the area where the movie was supposed to take place. And also, why would he keep two massive stone crosses - relics of the God that abandoned and cursed him - in his crypt? That just doesn't make sense. Nor did that stone sarcophagus Dracula rested and regenerated in make any sense in terms of how awfully fake it was. It didn't even resemble stone in any possible way.
And if Dracula's wife was slain by the hands of Renfield back in the time when Dracula's curse came to be, wouldn't that totally be somewhat of a plot hole, because Renfield was not a native to Romania, and he name just screams non-Eastern European. That was just stupid.
Effects-wise, then "Dracula: The Dark Prince" was alright, not super great, mind you, but not really bad either. The effects were to the point and served what they were supposed to do.
Acting-wise, well then "Dracula: The Dark Prince" didn't really fully deliver. People weren't really doing much of convincing the audience with their performances. Jon Voight, usually performing well in movies, was really poorly cast for the role of Van Helsing - he just lacked the grace, conviction and ability to come off as a hunter of the undead. And I am not really sure how I feel about Esme and Alina characters, they were really out of place in that movie, they seemed like something out of a Xena episode or low budget Robin Hood movie. Perhaps it was their outfits that worked against them.
Speaking of undead, the Scourge - the undead ghouls/zombies/revenants/whatever they were - that served Dracula, while they wore pretty nice armor, what was up with the painfully obvious latex masks that they were wearing? That was just ridiculous to look at.
I will say, though, that the wardrobe and props department worked well in favor of the movie, actually. The armors that were used looked very nice, as did the weaponry (well, aside from the Lightbringer), and the costumes were also nicely put together.
And the whole idea of the Lightbringer weapon was, well... In theory great, but in execution really poor. That weapon was just the worst constructed weapon in the history of warfare, and how it would be useful in actual mêlée is just beyond my comprehension. The weapon seemed to fragile and ill-constructed. And for some reason it was able to reflect a massive beam of light, apparently, when the group were in the Carpathian mountains looking for Dracula's castle. For such a small blade on the weapon it sure cast a massive reflection of light.
The whole experience of watching "Dracula: The Dark Prince" was just a notch below mediocre, and the movie is the type of movie that you watch once and forget about it soon thereafter, never to watch it again.
Why? Well, because it just wasn't a fulfilling movie. There were several things that just weren't fully working out for this particular movie. First of all, lets start with a blonde Dracula. Well, sure, why not, but that just really took away that Romanian / Eastern European appearance that is a natural in the area where the movie was supposed to take place. And also, why would he keep two massive stone crosses - relics of the God that abandoned and cursed him - in his crypt? That just doesn't make sense. Nor did that stone sarcophagus Dracula rested and regenerated in make any sense in terms of how awfully fake it was. It didn't even resemble stone in any possible way.
And if Dracula's wife was slain by the hands of Renfield back in the time when Dracula's curse came to be, wouldn't that totally be somewhat of a plot hole, because Renfield was not a native to Romania, and he name just screams non-Eastern European. That was just stupid.
Effects-wise, then "Dracula: The Dark Prince" was alright, not super great, mind you, but not really bad either. The effects were to the point and served what they were supposed to do.
Acting-wise, well then "Dracula: The Dark Prince" didn't really fully deliver. People weren't really doing much of convincing the audience with their performances. Jon Voight, usually performing well in movies, was really poorly cast for the role of Van Helsing - he just lacked the grace, conviction and ability to come off as a hunter of the undead. And I am not really sure how I feel about Esme and Alina characters, they were really out of place in that movie, they seemed like something out of a Xena episode or low budget Robin Hood movie. Perhaps it was their outfits that worked against them.
Speaking of undead, the Scourge - the undead ghouls/zombies/revenants/whatever they were - that served Dracula, while they wore pretty nice armor, what was up with the painfully obvious latex masks that they were wearing? That was just ridiculous to look at.
I will say, though, that the wardrobe and props department worked well in favor of the movie, actually. The armors that were used looked very nice, as did the weaponry (well, aside from the Lightbringer), and the costumes were also nicely put together.
And the whole idea of the Lightbringer weapon was, well... In theory great, but in execution really poor. That weapon was just the worst constructed weapon in the history of warfare, and how it would be useful in actual mêlée is just beyond my comprehension. The weapon seemed to fragile and ill-constructed. And for some reason it was able to reflect a massive beam of light, apparently, when the group were in the Carpathian mountains looking for Dracula's castle. For such a small blade on the weapon it sure cast a massive reflection of light.
The whole experience of watching "Dracula: The Dark Prince" was just a notch below mediocre, and the movie is the type of movie that you watch once and forget about it soon thereafter, never to watch it again.