In Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation, Dracula (Adam Sandler) starts
feeling lonely from the fact that he’s been single since his wife’s death. Mavis (Selena Gomez) misunderstands his
behavior as being stressed out from running the hotel. Thinking that it’s time for everyone to have a
vacation, she books a luxury cruise for her family and their friends in the Legacy.
Once boarded in the gigantic ship, they proceed to enjoy buffets, pool
volleyball, undersea diving, checking out various exotic locations, and other relaxing
activities. Meanwhile, Drac has found
himself falling in love with the Legacy’s
human captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hann).
Unfortunately, she is the descendant of Drac’s arch-enemy, Abraham
Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), and is secretly keen of destroying him.
I’m fond of these Hotel Transylvania movies. I think they’re underrated. Yes, they aren’t really outstanding animated
films, but they aren’t as terrible as what their critical receptions suggest. Among all of the current middle-of-the-pack animated
film franchises out there, Hotel
Transylvania is one of the most enjoyable, if not the most enjoyable, in my
opinion.
Though the first two installments are
better, this third one is still fun. Like
its predecessors, it’s very predictable, but it doesn’t feel off-putting
because there’s much sincerity in the execution.
Moreover, it’s generally funny. The monster squad is as delightful as ever, and since a bunch of accomplished comedians is involved in the voice acting (Adam Sandler, Adam
Samberg, Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Keegan-Michael Key, Mel
Brooks, Molly Shannon), much comedic energy is provided by these endearing characters. The physical comedy works compellingly most
of the time (the sequence with the crumbling gremlin airline had me in
stitches). There are even jokes that fly
over kids’ heads but adults will get.
However, I find some of the
decisions made in the movie strange. Specifically,
there’s some sense of old-fashioned-ness to some elements. It’s like certain gags, tropes, and themes are
taken from a “How to Make an Animated Movie for the 90’s” playbook. Now, I actually appreciated them because I
grew up in that decade, but they won’t necessarily have the same effect on the
5-to-10-years-old demographic – which is only, you know, this movie’s primary target
audience. A clear example of this is the
“Macarena” playing a big part in this climactic moment in the third act. Are kids right now even aware what the “Macarena”
is?
All in all, I had a good time
with Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster
Vacation. Though it’s just an
average animated movie at best, I still had plenty of big laughs and my heart
was aptly warmed.
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