Geekscape Movie Reviews: Hotel Transylvania
Hotel Transylvania is a place where monsters can get away from it all. Lavish rooms, relaxing spas, exquisite dining facilities. What more could a monster want in a vacation?
Protected by a evil forest and a cemetery filled with the un-dead, Hotel Transylvania is more than just a sanctuary for monsters. Designed by Dracula (Adam Sandler), not only as a refuge from humans for fellow monsters but also as a place to shelter and protect his vampire daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez). Problem is, she’s growing up and about to celebrate her 118th birthday, which means she finally gets to venture out into the real world and perhaps even travel to Hawaii where her parents met.
Sounds cute for a cartoon but is it original? Here’s a 3 sentence break down of what you will endure if you take your child or younger relatives to see it: Over-protective father concocts elaborate schemes to protect daughter from the real world. Daughter craves freedom and then suddenly “zings” with young, human man; And Dad is pissed. Daughter is broken-hearted when Dad kicks new love to the curb but he then feels remorse and makes it right.
That’s the break down of Sony’s new animated film, Hotel Transylvania slated to hit theaters this Friday, Sept. 28th. It stars a ensemble cast of well known actors including Cee-Lo Green as “Murray the Mummy,” David Spade as a pair of spectacles aka; The Invisible Man, Steve Buscemi as the leader of the pack, -as in a Werewolf Pack. His wife is played by Fran Drescher who true-to-form reincarnates her nagging nanny persona for the role.
Obviously it’s a cartoon and caters to kids but it could have been so much more if writers had been given more leeway to play up the characters and give them more than superficial personalities. The story is beyond formulaic, and not necessarily a bad thing, -when writing for younger kids. Credited writing goes to co-writers Peter Baynham (Arthur Christmas) and Robert Smigel (Saturday Night Live), who fail to flesh out the characters to a degree that adult viewers will feel much affinity for by the end. I brought a 12 year old with me (I drag her to all the kids stuff) and she liked it and had some giggles and laughs while I was nodding off towards the end.
The film really feels like a re-worked Adam Sandler film but even so it still delivers enough laughs that it’s better than most. The beginning story was especially endearing and near the end of the second act there is an action scene with Dracula chasing Jonathan on magical, floating tables that was well done, but even so it’s not quality enough as adult only entertainment. My 12 year old niece liked it well enough. As usual the 3D is a rip off and a way to bring in more revenue. I recommend this film for families that want to get out of the house and have something cute and fun to do with the kids… otherwise as adult entertainment goes, stay away!
C
Film opens Sept. 28th.PG, 1 hr. 31 min.
Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy
Directed By: Genndy Tartakovsky
Additional Cast: Molly Shannon, Fran Drescher
In Theaters: Sep 28, 2012 Wide
Sony Pictures
