The Hotel Transylvania series have managed to sneak in as a franchise that can be relied on for amusing characters and consistent, colorful humor. And they managed to make for a far more successful attempt at revamping the Universal Monsters compared to the “Dark Universe,” which failed just as quickly as it arrived. Plus, for animation nerds like myself, it’s always a pleasure to see co-writer/director, Genndy Tartakovsky, just go wild with the way the characters move and express themselves. The second one didn’t do a whole lot to bring anything new to the table, but it’s likability managed to keep it effortlessly watchable and engaging.
The same can pretty much be said about the new addition to the series, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. It’s follows Dracula (Adam Sandler) going on a cruise after his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), feels like he’s been focusing too much on work when in actuality, he feels lonely. On the cruise, he instantly falls for the captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn). Unfortunately for him, Ericka is a Van Helsing, and is working with her great grandfather, Abraham (Jim Gaffigan), to get rid of monsters once and for all.
The movie ends up playing like a riff on the first film dealing with the whole idea of breaking generational prejudice. Instead of Dracula having issues with Mavis dating Jonathan (Andy Sandberg), this time it’s Mavis having problems with Dracula having feelings for the mysterious Ericka, who has to make sense of her own feelings on the matter. However, it seems like the filmmakers are aware of the repetition, so they mostly keep those beats to the side while mostly focus on filling the movie with as many clever visual gags as they can. And that is absolutely where it succeeds.
There are a multitude of moments where it was overwhelming to take in the number of jokes on screen, and Tartakovsky is a master in visual ingenuity and momentum and informing character through action. These movies have offered ample room for him to showcase that talent. One sequence that had me in stitches was early on when all the characters were traveling to the cruise by a plane that is run by gremlins. It’s as hilarious as it sounds, and it’s so playful and elaborate, and it moves with the kind of energy that can be compared to recent Warner Brothers animated films like the LEGO films or the criminally underseen Storks.
There is this sense of the film just doing its best to just make sure you have a good time. Its ambitions don’t rise above that, but I think that’s perfectly OK. Every beat is predictable, but it’s the details in between those beats that really matter. The macabre gags combined with frantic slapstick gives the series its own distinct identity. It’s one that I find very appealing, and is likely why these movies have been able to nab an audience. Plus, I think it’s smart how the stakes of the series have always been intimate and personal, often revolving around the relationships between certain characters and how to deal with changes within said relationships. The idea has been giving diminishing returns since the first, but it’s a thread that has continuously run through the entire series.
It admittedly doesn’t add up to all that much in Summer Vacation, either emotionally or thematically, but it’s still such a joy to see these characters bounce off (sometimes literally) off each other. The voice work is also solid, though it seems like returning actors like Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Molly Shannon, and Mel Brooks, among others, have even less to do this time around. However, it does allow Gomez, Sandler, and Hahn to work off one another in fun ways. I also loved Chris Parnell’s deadpan reading as the half-fish-half-man employees of the cruise.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation isn’t going to win over any newcomers to the series, but for anyone who enjoys these characters and the fast paced and visually inventive humor, this will be a delightful time. Tartakovsky is a skilled and gifted enough filmmaker who can turn even the most disposable scripts into a creative experience. It won’t challenge you or anything like that, but hey, it says vacation in the title, so like the characters, maybe consider treating yourself.