Hotel Transylvania 3: Monstruos de vacaciones

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.

Visually great, fun music, entertaining concept, talented cast and yet I don't remember laughing out loud. Not even once.

If you've seen the previous movies, you know what's up. And you'll know the characters and you'll get the jokes you expect this to make. And you get a bonus love story on top of that. Now you don't have to have seen the other movies to "enjoy" this. Actually especially young kids who watch this may not have been born when the others were released.

Again, this aims to please the kids and Adam Sandler is doing another fun/children movie. You can hate it on it for multiple reasons or accept it for what it is, if it doesn't float your boat. It's not excellent, it's not a masterpiece (quite far away from it), it does exactly what it says on the cover. Nothing more and nothing less either.

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!

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