With Hotel Transylvania 2 making it’s way to the big screen next month, it’s now or never to catch up with the first movie, which was released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download back in 2012. Though the visuals in Hotel Transylvania already feel just a little bit dated compared with the CGI animation in the trailer for the new movie, it is where the story of the monstrous Romanian holiday destination began, so it’s a must watch if you’re planning on catching the latest installment.
It starts off a little slowly, with a clunky development of the plot in the setup of the overall storyline, but when it does get up to speed it’s a fun animated film with characters that are very likeable. Set in Transylvania, the hotel of the title is the brainchild of Count Dracula, who wants to create a safe haven for his daughter Mavis and the rest of his monster kind following a tragedy that left him a lone parent and completely untrusting of human kind.
It’s a concept that delivers a lot of the comedy potential of the film, as well as the more touching elements of the storyline, which gets a massive shakeup when the monsters-only hotel gets a human guest in the form of fearless/stupid ginger backpacker, Jonathan. As Drac does all he can to keep the scandal quiet, his inquisitive daughter away from the rest of the world and the two youngsters from hooking up, the whole operation slowly starts to unravel on him, forcing him to question all of his prejudices as a result.
While this is delivered a little on the sickly sweet side at times, for the most part it lands pretty well with some good gags, memorable characters who you end up having a vested interest in and a lot of hijinks action to keep things moving along at pace. Not all of the jokes are funny necessarily, but it’s got a good enough ratio to entertain and enough serious intention to give it the kind of substance a film like this needs in order to capture the minds of the kids it’s aimed.
Adam Sandler (Pixels) gets a lot of flack from film critics and for the most part it’s sort of well deserved, but in his voice role as Count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania he doesn’t do too badly at all. Selena Gomez brings a lot of charm to Mavis and Adam Samberg (Cuckoo) continues his comedy drifter genius as Jonathan, the only human in town. Kevin James (Pixels), Steve Buscemi (Monsters University), David Spade (Grown Ups) and CeeLo Green do an alright job of rounding off the cast as Drac’s pals, and guests at the hotel, Frankenstein, werewolf Wayne, Griffin the Invisible Man and Murray the mummy.
The CGI animation is decent enough, with just enough detail and styling to stand the test of time for a good while yet, but it isn’t anywhere near the level of the upcoming second movie. The difference between the two is the level of texture granularity in skin tones and surfaces and more accurate lighting, which is something we’re starting to see a lot more of in the most recent round of animated movies like The Good Dinosaur and Frozen.
All in all director Genndy Tartakovsky (Iron Man 2) has done a ghoulishly good job with the movie as a whole and it sets things up for even more macabre comedy in Hotel Transylvania 2. While the opening film isn’t perfect, it does a lot to keep the smiles on your little monsters’ faces, making it a mid range DVD review from us.
Hotel Transylvania DVD review: 3/5
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