Just in time with the Halloween month, Tartokovsky’s Hotel Transylvania brings the classic horror movie figures together into one film. Characters like Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, the Werewolves, etc appear to make a fun and humorous crossover. The film is highly toned down in terms of the classic horror-subject characters and the humor does not really reach high compared to, for example, Pixar’s. But overall it is a great film aimed for a young audience that will give them a “spooky Halloween” nightmare, as Dracula warns the audience in hypnotizing tone, “Never returnnn (to Hotel Transylvania)!”
Hotel Transylvania, a lavish five-stake resort owned by Dracula (Adam Sandler), guests monsters and their families away from the human civilization. The story revolves on one special weekend, when Dracula invites the famous monsters—Frankenstein (Kevin James) and his bride (Fran Dreschner), the Mummy (Ceo Lo Green), the Invisble Man (David Spade), the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi)—to have a birthday party for his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez). Managing and partying with these monsters is fun for Dracula, until an unexpected guest stumbles on the hotel: a human traveler named Jonathan (Andy Samberg). The human is clueless in where he has stumbled to and problems strike for Dracula when his daughter Mavis begins to take a liking for this human traveler.
Visual graphics are extremely glossy and detailed, the characters resembling Halloween themes and slick costumes. Sandler’s goofy Dracula voice greatly pulls a good laugh out of the audience and the slightly-nasty jokes like werewolves peeing babies give the readers some memorable experience. But even with Sandler’s humor and jokes, the film does not reach the criteria of other animation movies from Pixar, Dreamworks, and Disney.
Overall, a good film to go watch during Halloween, but waiting for the DVD rental might also be a choice.
