Monster Family (2017)

Just in case you haven't noticed, I love animated films, even those targeting kids, and, having enjoyed the two Hotel Transylvania movies and waiting for the third --it comes out at the end of the month here if I'm not wrong-- I decided to check out Monster Family as it kinda has a Hotel Transylvania vibe. 

Based on director and co-writer David Safier's children's book Happy Family, the film follows the Wishbone family, a family that doesn't get along very well and is far from being happy. As an attempt to reconnect, Emma (voiced by Emily Watson), the mother and wife, decides to make some monster costumes for her family, a vampire for her, Frankenstein's monster for his husband Frank (voiced by Nick Frost), a mummy for her daughter Fay (voiced by Jessica Brown Findlay) and a werewolf for her son Max (voiced by Ethan Rouse), to wear to a monster-themed costume party. But she mistakenly calls Count Dracula (voiced by Jason Isaacs) instead of the costume store and Dracula, who falls for her voice, hires a witch, Baba Yaga (voiced by Catherine Tate), who eventually turns the Wishbone family into real monsters.

And after that, absolutely nothing happens. Okay, maybe something does happen but it doesn't make any sense whatsoever --it's just some random things put together. Moreover, it's a story that has been told many and many times before, in a much better and more original way. And there are holes everywhere.

The characters too are incredibly weak. They have no depth whatsoever and they also are very unlikeable. Not to mention that some of them send a tremendously wrong message. The daughter, for example, other than being basically just a spoiled brat, has the talent to attract boys and this is presented as a great thing. What kind of message is that for the young kids this film targets?

Warner Bros., Altitude Film Distribution

However, what bothered me the most about the characters wasn't their characterization, or rather their non-characterization, but the way they talked. They are American, all of them, and yet they all have an English accent. Everyone but Dracula. Why? Can someone please explain it to me? 

Unfortunately, it's not it with the negative aspects of Monster Family. The animation is pretty bad too. While it's colourful and not as bad as everything else, it really bothered me that for most of the film's running time, the mouth movements did not match the awful voice acting.