Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

The Hotel Transylvania movies probably are, with The Meyerowitz Stories, the only Adam Sandler movies I enjoyed. They pale in comparison with Pixar's movies, but they are nice animated flicks. But nice is not enough for me so I didn't really care about Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation when it was in cinemas. And I shouldn't have cared about it now either as it is a significant step back compared to the other two of the series. 

This third instalment follows Dracula (Adam Sandler) as he is depressed because of the lack of a love life. In other to bring back his joy, his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) arranges for her father and the whole monster family to go on a monster cruise. As soon as they board, Dracula falls for the captain of the ship, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), unaware that she is a Van Helsing and that she has something planned for him. 

Plot-wise, there's absolutely nothing new as it's the antagonist wants to kill the protagonist but eventually fails kind of story that we have seen a million times before, and because of the romantic subplot between Dracula and Ericka, and the way it's built up, you, whether an adult or a child, can foresee its outcome right from the start. The predictability isn't the only problem though as the storyline is quite boring, not to mention how stupid it is —they defeat a Kraken with the Macarena. Do I need to say more? 

Also, because of the unusual setting, the film felt strange as if it wasn't a movie of the series but only happened to have the same characters, characters who have no development whatsoever and very little if no impact on the plot. This time around, there are even more supporting characters which leaves Dracula's friends, Frankenstein (Kevin James), Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade) and Murray the mummy (Keegan-Michael Key), Dracula's son-in-law Johnny (Andy Samberg), and Wayne the werewolf (Steve Buscemi) very little screen time.

Sony Pictures Realising

Another problem with Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is that it's not that entertaining. Most of the jokes are clichéd, pretty simple and basically recycled from the first and second film, and they also use some jokes over and over again throughout the film. As for the scenes, some are pretty good —the opening which quickly introduces the Dracula-Van Helsing rivalry, and the DJ battle at the end is kinda cool— but most moments are forgettable to say the least.

The animation is the only aspect that has improved. It is very colourful and more detailed than ever —the characters' facial expressions and body movements are terrific— and the setting, although weird for a movie that should be set in a hotel, looks stunning.

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

Genre

Animation | Comedy

Director

Genndy Tartakovsky

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Asher Blinkoff, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Mel Brooks, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Dana Carvey, Rob Riggle

Storyline

Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson (Asher Blinkoff) so to keep his daughter (Selena Gomez) from leaving the hotel.

Opinion

After the worldwide success of the first film, of course the filmmakers decided to make a sequel to that, and we all know the reasons. What is quite shocking to me is that yet again a film linked to Adam Sandler is actually good.

"Hotel Transylvania 2" surely doesn't have the originality or freshness of the previous film, but it still is a funny and entertaining movie for both a young and old audience.

Once again the plot is simple, only this time it doesn't seem to move forward. Basically it's just wasting time until it decides to proceed and do something - I guess that's what happens when you let Adam Sandler write the script - but despite that the film doesn't bore and it still is interesting.

While "Hotel Transylvania" dealt with family and being different, this one deals with a more common theme in animation and movies in general, accepting someone for who they are without discriminating.

If I had to find something that quite bothered me, I'd say it was the technology. I shouldn't be complaining about it because without technology I wound never be able to do what I'm doing right now, but at some points it almost feels like the film is trying to promote the use of technology, showing how fun it is. But the truth is that you can miss so many things in life if you're using your smartphone all the time, and I think the movie is sending a wrong message to the kids.

That being said, the film redeems itself with the beautiful animation, the humour - even though at some points it is quite immature. But again, Adam Sandler wrote it - and the hilarious moments, some when just kids would laugh, some when just adults would laugh, and some others when everybody would laugh.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Genre

Animation | Comedy | Fantasy

Director

Genndy Tartakovsky

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, CeeLo Green, Jon Lovitz, Luenell, Chris Parnell, Brian George, Brian Stack, Jackie Sandler, Sadie Sandler

Storyline

Dracula (Adam Sandler), who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a human boy (Andy Samberg) discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter (Selena Gomez).

Opinion

I had no expectations for this film considering that Adam Sandler - and his family - is all over the place. And usually nothing good comes out a film involving Adam Sandler. This time, however, I had to change my mind because "Hotel Transylvania" is actually a funny and entertaining family film.

Just like most of the time, the story is simple and quite predictable but at least it's easy to follow for kids. And just like in "Finding Nemo", the main topic addressed by the film is overprotective parenting, said parent being nobody less than Count Dracula. And there is also a predictable romantic subplot involving Dracula's "teen" daughter - she is 118-year-old - and a human boy.

Fortunately there is more to predictability. Not dull at all, the film indeed is very funny and it has some great moments that will have both kids and adults laughing. And there are a lot of genre references that are not necessarily brilliant but are fun to spot. And it was nice to see the monsters playing the good guys and the humans playing the bad guys - quite realistic, isn't it?

There isn't much of a character development here, and there are definitely a lot of supporting characters there are not so memorable, but they are funny, and they all deliver the funny dialogue - which is basically the films greatest strength.

The voice cast, which isn't very appealing for the most - I mean, didn't they have someone better than Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Kevin James and Fran Drescher? -, does a fairly good job. And Steve Buscemi as the Wolfman stole every scene he's in.

The animation is well done and the character design are nice to look at but a little unoriginal. It reminded me of "How to Train Your Dragon"'s characters, especially the bats.

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA Sends Bruce Willis For A Loop!

Sony Pictures is enjoying a one - two punch at the box office this weekend with their new animation HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA (HT) taking top spot. By a lot.

HT is looking at a potential $40 million weekend! I've liked the trailers leading up to it so I'm not all that surprised. I thought LOOPER would do a bit more and at least challenge, but it's not. A solid $6.9 million on Friday, but not enough to hold off HT with $11 million.

I expect to see HT keep up the momentum throughout the weekend and probably hit north of $40 m.