Hotel Transylvania: Transformania — An enjoyable change of scenery

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, and rather harshly, for cartoon nudity and mild rude humor

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang

Goodness.

 

Bear with me, while I catch my breath.

 

If this isn’t the most frantically paced animated feature ever made, it’ll certainly do until I can recall a wilder one.

 

Nobody else shares Johnny's excitement at becoming a monster; sweetie-pie Mavis,
at his immediate left, is particularly horrified.

The Hotel Transylvania series has enjoyed an entertaining run during the past decade, with various writers successfully concocting fresh plots that cleverly riff these classic Hollywood monsters. This fourth entry is no different; scripters Amos Vernon, Nunzio Randazzo and Genndy Tartakovsky — the latter directed the previous three films — once again put Dracula and his cohorts in hilariously wacky peril.

That said, first-time feature directors Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska could have slowed things down a skosh; the sight gags and one-liners erupt with a fury reminiscent of Drymon’s work on Nickelodeon’s CatDog shorts. And it isn’t merely the gags; the characters here seem to be in a constant state of pell-mell anxiety.

 

It’s almost overwhelming. 

 

But, happily, not to the point of hampering our enjoyment.

 

We’ve moved beyond the first film’s crisis of Drac’s 118-year-old daughter Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) falling in love with (gasp! shock!) the very human Johnny (Andy Samberg). In the third film, Drac became an item with the similarly human cruise ship captain Ericka (Katherine Hahn), despite the fact that she’s the great-granddaughter of his mortal enemy, Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan).

 

Each of these core plotlines has included a warm subtext that focuses on families, and family dynamics … including highly unusual ones.

 

This fourth entry is no different. Events kick off as Drac (Brian Hull), weary of hotel management, contemplates retirement. Although far from a fait accompli, Mavis excitedly realizes that she and her human hubby Johnny will wind up in charge … which sends Drac into a tizzy.

 

Although he has learned to accept Johnny’s presence — recognizing that the excitable young fellow makes Mavis happy — Drac has never fully accepted him as family … or, more crucially, as a son. Ergo, Drac doesn’t want Johnny co-managing the hotel. Desperate for a way out, Drac invents a “rule” stating that all hotel personnel must be monsters.

 

Is Johnny majorly bummed? Absolutely. Does he give up? Absolutely not.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation — A monstrous good time

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) • View trailer 
Four stars. Rated PG, for mild rude humor
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.13.18

The jokes never get old.

Many of the sight gags and laugh lines in this new outing are recycled from the two previous films, but we can’t complain when the result remains so entertaining. It has long been fun to exploit the absurdity of classic monsters, going all the way back to 1948’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. 

To his surprise, Dracula falls head-over-heels in love with cruise ship captain Ericka,
little realizing that he needs to know a lot more about her heritage.

This is director Genndy Tartakovsky’s third crack at this series’ fast-paced humor in a jugular vein, and he has the formula down pat: He and co-writer Michael McCullers divide this new adventure into distinct chapters, each of which presents unique opportunities for hilarity.

While, at the same time, each enhances the (mild) suspense of the story’s core plot.

A brief prologue mines Bram Stoker territory, by depicting the long-running battle between the resourceful Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) and various members of the Van Helsing clan, all of whom have devoted their lives to eradicating monsters. But as we move past the 19th and 20th centuries, and into modern times, all monsters have become sheltered beneath Dracula’s protective cape — as the two previous films have established — where they can safely enjoy themselves in his Hotel Transylvania.

On top of which, Dracula always has been able to make short work of the various Van Helsings, including the most recent, and most persistent: Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan).

Happily ensconced in his hotel, Dracula’s busy schedule has compromised his ability to spend time with vampire daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez), her gonzo-mellow human husband Johnny (Andy Samberg), and their precocious 5-year-old son Dennis (Asher Blinkoff). The latter, in turn, can’t stand to be parted from his elephant-sized puppy, Tinkles (who, fortunately, doesn’t live down to his name).

Worried that her father is wearing himself thin, and is unable to spend quality time with friends and family, Mavis secretly books a vacation for the entire gang — Drac’s Pack — on a luxury monster cruise ship. Although initially unimpressed by the notion of spending time on a massive “hotel on the water,” Dracula comes around when he unexpectedly “zings” — the monster equivalent of love at first sight — with the ship’s captain, the dimple-chinned Ericka (Kathryn Hahn).

Little do Dracula and his friends know, however, that Ericka is a Van Helsing, and the cruise actually is an elaborate trap designed to destroy all monsters. Finally. Forever.