HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA – Review

So, we’re barely two weeks into the new year and you’re ready for a quick getaway? Well, we’ve got the perfect spot, the place you visited three times before. Remember you had lots of fun because it was filled with lots of familiar faces (and voices)? Yes, it’s the place where all the coolest animated monsters go to chill out after being chased by those pesky villagers with pitchforks. Now, the route to this little hot spot is a tad different this time, but the ole’ gruesome gang has a goofy new adventure ready to be enjoyed in HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA (okay, might not be a word, but go with it).

And it just so happens that there’s a big anniversary celebration going on at that familiar “vacay” spot. Plus, the whole monster gang is there to toast Drac (voice of Brian Hull) and his “fair lady” Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), Unfortunately, daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) has left the event in the hands of her clumsy human hubby Jonathan (Andy Samberg). In a lull in the chaos Drac and Ericka discuss his retiring from managing the place and handing it over to Mavis, who overhears this and passes the info on to Jonathan. Unable to control his excitement, he blurts out his thanks to Drac, who panics and tells a tiny “white lie”: he can only give the place to a monster, not a human. A distraught Jonathan runs off to Ericka’s papa, Dr. Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), who actually has a solution. His ruby-powered scepter can shoot out a “Monsterfication Ray” that turns humans into monsters, and vice-versa. With one well-aimed blast, Jonathan becomes a massive lumbering dragon. He then meets with a horrified Drac, who grabs the device, but instead of “normalizing ” his son-in-law. he and many of his pals become (gasp) human beings (well Blobby becomes a plate of lime gelatin dessert). Oh-oh, now the ruby’s run out of juice, and the only replacements are deep in the jungles of South America. It’s then a race against the clock (Jonathan is becoming more, well, monstrous to the “point of no return”) to find a new gem, zap everybody, get back to their ole horrific selves.

So, the different route I mentioned earlier is streaming, not in movie theatres as with the previous three entries in the franchise. Oh, and there’s a big vocal cast change in that Adam Sandler’s not speaking for Drac (ditto with Kevin James as Frankie), not that the wee ones will notice as Hull gives the same bouncy Bela-like lilt to his line (same for Brad Abrell as big bolted Frankie). Plus the folks at the helm have changed. Yes, it’s an “s” since artists Derek Dryman and Jennifer Kluska have been handed the reins from Gendy Tartakovsky, who did co-write the screenplay with Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo. To be honest I couldn’t tell the difference from the now ten-year-old original. And yes I skipped two, three, and a stand-alone short, but I’ve always said that a flick should work on its own, as though you’re entering the series “fresh”. Sure the vocal performances are still strong especially Samberg’s big excited doofus “normal” and Gaffingan’s cranky riff on all the late-shot horror scholars as Van Helsing, though Gomez and Hahn are woefully underused. The script tries to strike a balance between the quest of Drac and Jonathan intercut with the monster gang trying to cope with their new human forms. Frankly, the Hotel hubbub has little energy, as the same gags are reused (Frank’s now a vain “poser”, werewolf Wayne can’t cope with his litter of pups, much as with the piglets in SING 2, and the now visible Griffin can’t cover his “modesty”). Luckily the colorful designs and backdrops really pop (the jungle settings are so vibrant), and the characters are “rubbery” without losing their “weight”, though the constant frantic movements can get exhausting. It all comes down to your affection for the franchise, so if you liked them you’ll probably enjoy this. But for those “newbies”, it may feel like another “inter-changeable” celeb-voice-driven CGI fluff that won’t entice you to check in again, despite the capable artisans behind HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA.

2 Out of 4

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA streams exclusively on Amazon Prime Video beginning on Friday, January 14, 2022