HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA – A Review by Cynthia Flores
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is the last in the Hotel Transylvania animated feature film series. If you have seen the other three movies, then it will make more sense to you. But it stands on its own even without you seeing what happened before this story takes place.
It’s the 125th anniversary of the Hotel Transylvania. Dracula (Brian Hull) has decided to retire and start a new life with Erika (Kathryn Hahn). He will leave the hotel to his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her human husband Johnny (Andy Samberg). Drac decides to make the announcement at the party for the hotel when Johnny, overly excited as usual, flips Drac out. He starts going on and on about all the changes that he wants to make. Dracula being the control freak he is, changes his mind. He tells Johnny a lie about the laws being set up to where only a monster can be an owner of this hotel.
Johnny feels like he’s ruined it for his wife and when he leaves upset, he bumps into Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) in the basement. Van Helsing uses an invention he’s made from a rare stone to turn Johnny into a monster. The Invention can also turn monsters into humans.
When Dracula finds this out, he tries to change Johnny back to a human before Mavis finds out and kills him. In the chase somehow some of the magic is captured in the party punch bowl. Where later Dracula’s friends will drink and be turned into humans.
Johnny and Dracula go on an adventure into the Amazon jungle to find a new stone for Van Helsing’s invention which they broke at the hotel. Can they do it in time before Johnny’s monster transformation progresses and turns him into a raging, mindless beast? You will just have to watch the film to find out.
When Genndy Tartakovsky, who directed the first three zany adventure films in the Hotel Transylvania series, decided to come back for this final one it was as a writer and executive producer for this film. When asked why he came back he’s quoted as saying:
“Dracula has always accepted that Johnny makes Mavis happy, but he’s never really accepted Johnny as family – as a son.” He went on to say, “Drac is going to have to come to terms with that. It takes Drac becoming a human for him to truly understand who Johnny is, and ultimately accept him as a member of the family.”
Speak of Dracula becoming human, and you have to talk about the recasting of his part made famous by actor Adam Sandler. Voice actor Brian Hull takes over as the controlling Dracula. People have speculated that it was done in an attempt to keep the cost of production down. After all, Adam Sandler ain’t cheap ya know. The directors Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska have said that the film’s storyline allowed them to make the change in actors. Since Dracula spends most of the time during the film as a human then naturally his voice would change a bit as well. Luckily for the audience, the rest of the gang of original actors voice all the characters we have come to love.
I give Hotel Transylvania: Transformania 3.5-stars. It’s a funny and sweet way to end the franchise. Make sure to stick around past the credits to see the real end of it all.
Directed by: Derek Drymon, Jennifer Kluska
Written by: Amos Vernon, Nunzio, Randazzo, Genndy Tartakovsky, Todd Durham
Rated: PG
Selig Rating: 3.5 Stars
Running Time: 1hr 38min
Comedy / Animation
Release: Premiere Exclusively on Amazon Prime Video January 14th
Starring: Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Brian Hull, Jim Gaffigan, Kathryn Hahn
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie, well worth the price.
4 Stars – Good movie
3 Stars – OK movie
2 Stars – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
1 Star – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn’t paid for it.
