It's the summer film season and time for the usual summer fare, i.e. big-budget and animated films aplenty. Certainly the brunt of animated flicks are created by Disney, Pixar Studios, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures Animation. So when I realized that the latter studio designed the work on "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation", I felt the quality truly had to be present.
Mavis (Selena Gomez) surprises her dad, Dracula (Adam Sandler) with a family voyage on a luxury Monster Cruise Ship so he can take a vacation from providing everyone else's vacation at the hotel. The rest of Drac's pack including Johnny (Andy Samberg), Frank (Kevin James), Eunice (Fran Drescher), Wayne (Steve Buscemi), Murray (Keegan-Michael Key) and Griffin (David Spade), cannot resist going along. But once they leave port, romance arises when Dracula meets the mysterious ship Captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn). Now, it's Mavis' turn to play the overprotective parent, keeping her dad and Ericka apart. Little do they know that his "to good to be true" love interest is actually a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing, ancient nemesis to Dracula and all other monsters.
Others to round out the cast are Molly Shannon as Wanda, Jim Gaffigan as Van Helsing, Asher Binkoff as Dennis, Chris Parnell as Stan/Fish Man and Joe Jonas as The Kraken.
This was whimsically directed by Genndy Tartakovsky ("Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip" (TV movie) '99, "Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie" (TV movie) '01, "Hotel Transylvania" '12, "Hotel Transylvania 2" '15) plus shorts and TV. As with this franchise's predecessors, this was directed with familiarity since this filmmaker directed the others. So with this, it gives that coziness that we all recognize which makes for better connection with this franchise as a whole. It was executed well by writers Michael McCullers and Tartakovsky. Certainly McCullers has the brunt of the experience here, however Tartakovsky's input has to be pivotal since he has directed all three installments. Truly this wasn't as fresh of a script as its predecessors due to it being the third installment, however it still was entertaining and humorous regardless. Will there be a "Hotel Transylvania 4" in our future. Well, assuming this installment makes a profit, there will undoubtedly be one. Sony Pictures Animation, who created this, has a prolific resume and the film I'm waiting to see from their corale is that of "Small Feet" about a family of Yetis (Big Foot creatures) coming across in terror of the legend known as Small Foot (Humans). It sounds like a creative 'turn of the table' story which, according to the trailer, looks uproariously funny.
Certainly if you like animated films, this is a worthy one. Honestly, if one had told me that this franchise would be a three film one, I wouldn't have believed it. But as it has reached to this film, it was still a funny story with an exceptional ensemble cast.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG 98mins.
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