Hotel Transylvania

I did not know this movie was directed by Tartakovsky, which is probably why I liked it as much as I did. He is one of my favorite animation directors and he does a great job in directing this movie as well. The humor is a bit hit or miss, mostly kid-oriented but there were some creative jokes and I laughed out loud a couple times. The cast does a good job for the most part and the movie has some heart to it. Overall, a pretty pleasant surprise that could have benefited from some better writing.

I went into this movie really with no expectations. I had only seen a few fragments of commercials and got nothing at all interesting from them. So, WOW, was I surprised and impressed when I saw it!! The movie was a creative story, quick moving action, funny, heartwarming, visually interesting and sometimes surprising - this film had a lot of great things going on, and I found myself really engaged and far more interested in the characters than I would have guessed. Sure, there were a few "as if" moments, but for the most part I found it to be fun, funny, and a film I heartily recommend! Kudos to the writers, voice actors and animators.... With a youngster in my home, I'm sure we'll be seeing this again soon.

Hotel Transylvania stars: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James and David Spade. It goes for approximately 90 minutes. It fails to deliver GREAT 3D moments although some could be classified as 'GOOD'.

The first half of the movie is what is called 'Jokes Are Failing' Syndrome. Although they do crack in a couple of good laughs in the first half, majority don't live up to expectations that animations nowadays do. Too many slapstick moments and unnecessary forced jokes... NOTE TO FILM-MAKERS: If jokes are forced... Don't even bother with the joke!

The movie has heart though, which kind of makes for it's first half. The second half however is fun, cool, funny and surprisingly a bit thrilling! It does have it's fun moments... I will admit. Although some of the 3D doesn't work I still found it to be a good animation... Is it the best animation of the year? NO WAY! But is it great as an animation? No, not really it is what I call 'A good animation if you just let your mind do nothing!' A B from me.

Hotel Transylvania has a simple concept: classic campy monsters staying in a hotel where humans are not allowed because they think we're evil. It doesn't sound too fresh but it looks fun. Behind this concept is a father-daughter-relationship that seems to follow the footsteps of other great recent animated films. The result is, it's not getting there yet but it's still as delightful as it's suppose to be. It's one of those films that it's so crazy, you'll instantly like it. Most of the gags are clever and ridiculous. Overall, it's an endless fun entertainment.

Though, the film sometimes feels like a mediocre animated kids film. Generic family film elements are there but they are used in a different way. There is often slapstick and toilet humor but the gags are best when it's outrageously absurd. Every set pieces are swift, quirky, and exciting. The voices of the characters sound silly at glance but the actors made them pretty likable.

When the craziness slows down, there's a sweet bit of Dracula's relationship between Mavis and Jonathan, and some brooding. The drama is a little effective. It's not as strong as most recent animated films. It's more focused at being fun and hilarious. It's great when it stays to the roots of a cartoon like showing peculiar looking characters acting like lunatics. The best laughs are when the monsters are expressing their misanthropy in a ludicrously paranoid way, and when they're just making fun of each other. Mainstream pop culture song numbers kind of tone things down, but the song number at the end didn't affect the breathtaking and emotional climax.

Hotel Transylvania is good enough for the whole family even though it's raucous. Fans of the animation genre would enjoy this a lot more. Since it's directed by a cartoon expert, it contains a lot of absurd and exciting scenes that is similar to his shows. Although, some might expect something more since many animated films these days are deeper and powerful, leaving the old habits behind. Hotel Transylvania still has the heart but it's just not as compelling as the others. If you're in for the joys then this will give you a good time. My rating may be too high, but this my thing. I always enjoy this kind of animation.

After reading reviews that either disliked or were indifferent to Hotel Transylvania and being dubious because Adam Sandler(who has been in a lot of really bad movies recently) was in the lead role, I was unsure of whether to see the film. But my love for animation and the appetising trailer over-rode my doubts and I saw it anyway. And you know what, while The Pirates and ParaNorman were better animated movies from this year in my opinion I found Hotel Transylvania much better than expected. More could have been done with the relationship between Jonathan and Mavis, it is a romantic angle that has been used many times before and as well as feeling somewhat under-baked very little new was done with it. While a vast majority of the film is fast-paced with no real dull spots, some parts of the film did feel rushed. On the other point of view, the animation is excellent, the backgrounds are both beautiful and Gothic and that is the same with the colours. The characters are well-modelled. The soundtrack is catchy and upbeat, though some of the songs could have been more than just snippets. The writing is zany and often witty with a surprising amount of heart also.

The story is predictable, but not dull. It has a number of great moments, the genre references are not as inspired as they were in ParaNorman but they are fun to spot, and I loved a lot of the slapstick-in-style gags. Especially the zombie Beethoven, the scream cheese Hors-D'Oeuvres, the shrunken heads do not disturb tags and the digs at Twilight(much more fulfilling than any of the movies combined). But it does have a lot of heart. Is the over-protective father idea clichéd? Of course. But I did find it genuinely touching instead of overly-exaggerated as I have seen described. Dracula's past is also shown in a darkly emotional way. The characters are not the most memorable I have ever seen, but they do have their likability, my favourite here was Dracula. And the voice acting was surprisingly great, to me from a non-fan who has liked him in some movies(Punch Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, Spanglish and Happy Gilmore) and hated him in others(Jack and Jill, Going Overboard, Zookeeper and Mr Deeds) Adam Sandler gives one of his better performances of late in the role of Dracula, he is actually funny as well as emotive in alternative to irritating. Selena Gomez is endearing as daughter Mavis and Adam Samberg brings some heroism to Jonathan. Kevin James, David Spade, Jon Lovitz, Fran Drescher and especially Steve Buscemi give solid support. In conclusion, surprisingly good. 8/10 Bethany Cox