Hotel Transsilvanien 3: Ein Monster Urlaub

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is an entertaining animated film filled with unique creativity. Wonderful voice acting and a distinctive animation style separate this from the majority of animated films. This is sure to be a worthwhile watch for all families.

The movie follows Dracula (Adam Sandler) as his boring hotel business and lack of love continue to bring him down. Wanting to bring back his joy, daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) surprises Dracula and the rest of his best friend-monster pack with an adventurous monster cruise. Initially angered by this, Dracula slowly begins enjoying himself and even finds a new crush in the mysterious yet charming cruise captain Ericka (Kathryn Hahn). However, things take a left turn when former nemesis Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) hunts the cruise, threatening the lives of all monsters aboard.

Adam Sandler, as Dracula, is my favorite character as his transformation to being his old adventurous self is well-presented. His love for his daughter and kind acceptance of humans also provide for a nice central message. Selena Gomez, as Mavis, continues to shine by providing an equally strong father-daughter bond with Dracula. Kevin James, as Frankenstein, greatly presents a dumbfound friend to Dracula whose deteriorating body assures for some inventive comedy. Steve Buscemi, as Wayne/Wolfman, regales with his signature voice highlighting the character's parenting struggles with his many cubs. David Spade, as Griffin/Invisible Man, equally entertains despite not having a corporeal form. Last but not least, Keegan Michael-Kay, as Murray/ Mummy, completes the pack with his unique, child-like nature. Kathryn Hahn, as Ericka, adeptly portrays her mysterious past and interesting attraction for Dracula. Jim Gaffigan, as Abraham Van Helsing, exhibits a new take on the legend monster hunter.

Genddy Tartakovsky brings out his zany and fast-paced direction in new ways. In spite of that, this is nowhere as memorable and groundbreaking as his other works, such as Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory. My favorite scene is the opening one which quickly introduces us to the Dracula-Van Helsing rivalry and sets the stage for a grand adventure. The biggest flaw in the movie is that some of the humor comes across as farcical and this could dissuade adults from watching. Also, the plot is rather one-note and forgettable, especially when compared to the standard of Tartakovsky's other work.

The movie's message is to never discriminate against a person based on their looks and instead, appreciate them for who they are. I give this film 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 6 to 18.

Reviewed by Arjun N., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews by youth, visit kidsfirst dot org.

The first 'Hotel Transylvania' was surprisingly good, after expecting to dislike it. The second film garnered mixed reviews, though a fair few of them had been negative, some thought it was great fun while others disliked it intensely. Personally am in the former.

'Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation' is the second sequel and also got mixed reviews. Some people, like the first two films, enjoyed it a lot, again others disliked and even hated it. Personally belong in the former camp. 'Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation' is less than perfect, could have been much better and like the second film is inferior to the first film, but it was again much better than expected and was quite enjoyable in its own way.

Starting with the many good points, the animation is great, vibrantly colourful, vivid, never blocky and meticulously detailed. The character designs are very much improved, though never had a problem with them in the first place. The soundtrack is very catchy and fits very well.

Dialogue is witty and hilarious, avoiding going into distaste and immaturity. And the gags hit more than they miss, coming by thick and fast, one highlight being a booby trap-laden dance scene. The fast pace and good natured antics make 'Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation' a very easy watch for the whole family. The message is sincere and easy to relate to, giving the film some heart without being heavy-handed.

Voice acting is on the money, Adam Sandler's Dracula in all three films sees him give some of his better work in recent years. Kathryn Hahn is a great addition and Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez improve hugely over the previous film. The standouts for me were Steve Buscemi (as ever), Kevin James and David Spade, the last two giving some of their funniest and best work of late.

For all those good things there are faults. Parts did get a bit too hectic and noisy and the story is basic and predictable with a few side-stories not serving much point.

Would have liked the secondary characters to have more screen time, character development generally is lacking and a few characters are near-incidental to the plot. Also expected a stronger finale than the anaemic one that goes overboard on the silliness.

Overall though, a good fun time. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The first two movies are extremely fun and well made cartoon movies. They have the feel of a silly Saturday morning cartoon with some of the most quirky animation in modern movies. They also had some heart and a really interesting stories.

This one throws all of the heart and story out in favor of full on cartoon silliness and makes it the worst entry in the series.

The animation is still some amazingly well done cartoony animation. It's not the technical marvel that Pixar movies are, but it really does the cartoon aspect of it well.

There's still some fun gags to watch, but a lot of this movie relies on those over dialogue or an interesting story. There are 3-4 scenes where there are no dialogue and just end up being really kind of dull. I know it's a kids movie, but there's just scenes in it that really feel aimless and are gags that just go on for way too long. It makes 50% of the movie just feel like filler to spread out the simple plot to a 90 mins to entertain kids.

Drac and his love interest are the main focus in this and most of the other characters become tertiary and are no more than glorified background characters.

It's still got enough of the wacky animation and outlandish humor, but it kind of feels like they didn't have enough to do with the plot. The first two held my interest the whole way through, but this one was just filled with way too many extended bits that go on for way too long and just feel aimless. It's very reminiscent of how Minions has those extended scenes of the minions doing some silly event that derails the movie for 5 mins and has no impact on the story.

Here's hoping the 4th in the series has more to it and can keep it intriguing for the adults too.

I saw this early (June 30) as an Amazon Prime member (cool perk btw), and thought it was super cute. Not quite as good as the first two but still great movie for kids and adults. All the same voice actors as in the first two films. Same witty humor. Overall great summer flick!

I'm surprised to see negative reviews (and I'm a pretty critical person). I thought it was fun for both my son and myself. There wasn't any humor or plot line I worried about as a parent, it was fun to watch, engaging, the humor made both of us laugh and I just love the characters. There were some moments that particularly cracked me up. It was a great time and a nice way to spend 90 minutes with my family.