Nerdly » ‘Hotel Transylvania 3’ DVD Review

05th Dec2018

‘Hotel Transylvania 3’ DVD Review

by Jak-Luke Sharp

Features the voices of: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Jim Gaffigan, Kathryn Hahn, Chris Parnell, Joe Jonas, Chrissy Teigen | Written by Genndy Tartakovsky, Michael McCullers | Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky

In Hotel Transylvania 3, Mavis surprises Dracula with a family voyage on a luxury monster cruise ship so he can take a summer vacation from providing everyone else’s vacation at the hotel, and the rest of Drac’s Pack cannot resist tagging along. The monsters are all having a great time, indulging in all of the shipboard fun the cruise has to offer, from monster volleyball to colossus sized buffets and exotic excursions, but then the unexpected happens as Drac falls for the intriguing-yet-dangerous captain of the ship. Balancing family, friends, and a budding romance might just be too much, even for the most powerful vampire…

Two minutes into Hotel Transylvania 3 and I could have walked out with the film bearing no effect on my life whatsoever, no guilt of skipping it and no qualms losing my money that i spent on the ticket. The first entry didn’t define anything within the genre with spectacle or relatively positive impact, it was in certain obvious terms ‘ok’. A bland and dull phrase that does goes hand in hand with the feature itself, another entry into the franchise comes and goes with little to no impact a few years later and that brings us to this point in time with a recently released third, and i hope final, entry in a franchise that showcased so much promise yet delivered very little returns with the prospect of talent on the table.

Ironically, Hotel Transylvania 3 sabotages itself with the idea of creating an entertainingly gothic and spooky adventure, yet the outcome is nowhere near as adventurous or promising with the end result in almost a subtle idea of the intended artistic impression the franchise had at the fingertips. Genndy Tartakovsky’s animated film does look stunning, but only when it wants to be and that’s the pitiful catch. Backgrounds look jaw-dropping and wide shots spectacular in scope with terrific detail and a beautiful colour palette, which makes the decision to once again nullify character design both perplexing and in this day and age of Dreamworks and Pixar, without a doubt, outrageous. Characters look incredibly bland and the result is a disappointing attribute that should be a series staple.

Plotting and story are simplistic and clear. It is aimed at children and while a little too childish in nature throughout. It served its target audience with delightful effect in my auditorium room, so in that respect, it achieves everything it sets out to want to achieve and will probably make an impact at the box office doing so, entertaining many as it slowly drifts away into the black hole of cinema. The issues at hand are the potential of what this franchise could be or what it could achieve. The voice acting doesn’t disappoint nor does it excite, with Sandler’s routine disciples on hand to fill in all the blanks that result in Hotel Transylvania 3 feeling more like Grown Ups 2.5, a halfway point to a possible nightmarish doomsday scenario for cinema and mankind that is destined to become a reality.

Andy Sandberg returns in what feels like a two-hour one take run at the voice recording booth and ran out before his coffee even got cold, resulting in a character that has two lines of dialogue made up of entirely one-liners that are neither funny nor remotely entertaining. It does have moments of fun and flavour Kathryn Hahn is delightful as ever as newcomer Ericka, whose character does make a relatively sizeable dint into the plain sailing proceedings, and although it is unfortunately just her voice her stamp of personality and charisma is felt nonetheless. Mel Brooks also returns with a bloated cameo and does some rather strange routines for the millennials to ponder over.