I bet when the first Hotel Transylvania hit theaters in 2012, no one could have predicted that this would be the start of a franchise that released its third film in 2018. The process of making the original movie was rough, to say the least hotel transylvania 3 summer vacation review . They went through 6 directors and finally found Genndy Tartakovsky to direct the film, his first feature film. Genndy re-imagines the story as manic over-amplified animation. "I don't want animation to mimic reality. I want to push reality," he said.
Now, with these sequels, he has complete control over the projects, and while I have some questions about what he did with Hotel Transylvania 2, it was a box office hit and most fans seem to like it. Now we have Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, and it's probably the strongest franchise yet. It's not a movie that will be talked about during Oscar season, but it's still an enjoyable one. It's funny, it has a sweet message, and the animation really shines.
Hotel Transylvania has had a family theme from the beginning. Same here. Emotionally, Mavis has a compassionate desire to help her father get to a better place. Dracula told someone, "I haven't dated anyone since my wife died. It's hard being a single parent, but I've done my best."
Family, including marriage and having children, is presented in a positive and aspirational light. Mavis and Johnny love each other and enjoy raising their son Dennis. Meanwhile, Drake feels the natural emptiness of his daughter as she grows up, and his desire to fall in love with himself again eventually leads him to seek out Erica.
In Erica's case, when Drake begins to pursue her (to say the least), he has to overcome a latent prejudice against vampires and monsters. Meanwhile, Mavis isn't quite sure that Erika is what she seems, and she's very protective of her father as she tries to figure out what's going on.
The film's various subplots also reinforce the beauty of marriage and family. We saw a wedding. Two werewolves, Wayne and Wanda, emotionally reconnect when they discover they can put their huge children on the boat's playground.
Marriage and parenting can be challenging at times, but these little challenges are a doddle compared to the joys of raising a family with your loved ones. The film also hints that even two very different people can find love. And of course we mixed in some heroism when things got a little desperate towards the end.
Tartakovsky's instinct is to keep the action fast and let one kid-friendly slapstick roll on to the next, but when the jokes have been so uninspired, it doesn't matter how quickly they're dished out. The problem with the "Hotel Transylvania" series is that all conflicts are resolved after the first: Mavis was once a sheltered child who longed to see the world, and now she has. Her human husband, Johnny (Andy Samberg), once a backpacking hippie wandering the land of monsters, is now part of a gang. Monsters and humans were once natural rivals, but not anymore. Not to mention the hotels in Transylvania, which are only 15 minutes total in the last two movies.
That makes Hotel Transylvania 3 feel too much like another loose reunion of Sandler and his friends who often appear on screen as PG-rated "grown-ups" at sea. They looked like people on vacation, and the rest was public.
