Follow Sandler’s lead, check out of ‘Hotel’
Here are some good things about the fourth "Hotel Transylvania" movie: Kathryn Hahn, who is as evocative a voice actor as she is in live action; the monster sidekicks voiced by David Spade, Keegan-michael Key, Steve Buscemi and Brad Abrell; a joke about a single marshmallow (really); the revelation that the invisible man has been naked this whole time; the 94minute runtime; and its on Amazon Prime Video.
But perhaps the best thing about “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” is that it’s the end. The well of ideas on this property has run dry and they have made the wise decision to show themselves the door.
What started as a clever enough riff on a father-daughter
relationship, monsters and the hospitality industry has been running out of fuel since. It’s hard to shake the feeling that everyone was just phoning it in for this final go. Actually, it’s not “everyone” since Adam Sandler, who was the marquee sell for the previous three as Count “Drac” Dracula, managed to bow out early. Kevin James did too.
This time, under the direction of Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska, Drac is voiced by Brian
Hull, who does a fine job approximating Sandler’s vampire shtick. And though the character has had three movies to get used to the idea of his daughter’s relationship, he hasn’t evolved much from the first movie, when he sits back in horror as Mavis (Selena Gomez) meets and falls in love with a human man, Johnny (Andy Samberg). In the world of Hotel Transylvania, they’ve since married and had a child, but Johnny still feels like an outsider, and Drac is still loathe to accept him as part of the family. So, in this installment, executive produced and co-written by franchise creator Genndy Tartakovsky, Drac decides in a backstage panic to not make a big announcement about giving the hotel to Mavis and Johnny.
Johnny, thinking it’s his fault because he’s not a monster, asks
Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) to help him change. It works.
Even with the explosion of colors it still strains to hold interest. The manic “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” does not seem to be for parents
or for very young kids. Perhaps there’s a sweet spot for 8- to 12-year-olds who may be on board for whatever adventure they find themselves in, but even this might test their patience.