LogFAQs > #961975992

27. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

Ermine: 14
Inviso: 23
Red: 26
Karo: 27
Evillord: 29
Johnbobb: 34

Total: 153

Ermine: I'm still undecided if I like this one more... or less than the 2nd film. I still think the first is the strongest but this one still had some fun moments in it. It seems pretty clear that this is following the trend of the films just becoming more and more nonsense and whilst there isn't really much story or plot to care in the slightest about, it's still fun to see these characters get into stupid situations.

I WAS upset about Wayne being completely cut of the last third of the movie for a stupid ass reason. Dumb dumb dumb.

Inviso: I feel like Im very much grading on a curve here. This film was interesting enough to keep my attention, which is more than I can say of several films Ive watched. The plot was coherent and linear enough to feel like it wasnt ENTIRELY slapped together to make a quick buck (although it definitely fell into some pitfalls that several movies on this list have fallen into). And given that weve watched the first two films in the franchise before, this feels like it wasnt JUST thrown together to continue the story. It took the main character (Dracula) and gave him a new motivation in light of his daughter finding love, getting married, and having a child herself. Its interesting to see the story of a single father, trying to get back on the dating scene, and all the hang-ups that can arise, both from memories of his wife, to fears over how Mavis will feel, to a general lack of experience in the dating scene. Having everything tie back to the Van Helsing family felt a BIT hamfisted, but I think it worked well enough to round out the movie, even if things moved a bit too quickly for my tastes.

Red: While the previous two films in this franchise provided a bit of interest with monster/human world mixing, this film throws it out and we're full monsters and lots of Drac. It doesn't really work. Also hope you don't remember the prior movies because the really dumb concept of "zing" doesn't really mesh with anything we've seen prior. This movie could have been made without it and it would have likely been better off, with the whole concept ultimately being kind of creepy if you think too hard about it. But have no fear because this is probably a franchise they'll drag around for even more sequels.

Karo: This third installment in the extremely adequate monster resort film series sees everyone take an impromptu cruise trip because the writers have no clue what to do anymore.
But oh no! The cruise line is run by the Van Helsing family! Uh-oh, Dracula accidentally falls in love with the great-granddaughter of his arch nemesis! After a lot of marginally funny monster antics and Miss Van Helsing's repeated attempts at killing Dracula fail comically, the day is saved with the power of the macarena in a scene so self-consciously stupid that it almost isn't stupid. Almost.
Like all movies in the series, the animated 'takes' and expressions are top notch. Dennis and Winnie's misadventures are cute as usual. But did we really need another sequel just so we could randomly get Dracula laid? Dracula's romance is awkward and contrived and has zero chemistry from anyone involved. Even his grandson's puppy love has more chemistry than this 1000 year old manchild going goobety goobety goo while the object of his affection tries to murder him.
The Hotel Transylvania series is one that struggles to escape the bounds of mediocrity, and only the second film can really say it accomplished this. I feel they teach good messages to kids about bigotry beneath all the random idiocy, and this justifies their existence at least. Still, this is a textbook cashgrab sequel if I ever saw one.

Evillord: At first I was tempted to dismiss this one as obvious trash and just write "haha Jonathan, you are banging my daughter," but you know, that DJ Battle sequence from the end did make an impression on me. It's like a visual worm that tunneled into my brain. I can't stop seeing it. I think that does actually speak to the strength of the Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack vet director's understanding of motion in animation, which is what elevates this one above some of the others with similarly bad scripts and acting (Good god, Sandlers Dracula voice is terrible.)

Johnbobb: I... never know how to feel about these movies. By all means they're objectively not very good movies. It's Adam Sandler and Kevin James and co. doing silly hijinks as wacky, kid-friendly versions of monsters. MANY of the jokes don't land, in this one or the ones to come before. But there's also a weird sort of charm to the movie. It made me laugh or at least smile a couple times.