Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

<<

Catching Up

>>

The 'Hotel Transylvania' series seems to be something very much met in the middle by the general public. Most people I know, including myself, tend to enjoy them. But it does seem that in present times, anything Adam Sandler and his crew touch tends to be poison to critics. The "Rotten Tomato" levels are downright fascinating. In order from first to third film, the critic ratings are 45%, 55% and 62%, but the audience ratings are very polarizing with 72%, 64% and 48%. So, according to critics, this is the best of them while according to audiences, this is the worst of them. And oh yes, I am with the audience on this one.

The film opens with a bit of a simplified backstory involving Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) and his ongoing hunt for our now familiar monsters; Frankenstein (Kevin James), Wayne the werewolf (​Steve Buscemi), Griffin, the invisible guy (David Spade), Murray the mummy (Keegan-Michael Key), and of course, Dracula (Adam Sandler). We see how the monsters constantly thwart his efforts over time, and things fast-forward to present day. As most watching this would know by now, Dracula now runs a hotel for monsters (hence the title), and the first two films focus largely on a human named Johnny (Andy Samberg) stumbling into their world, and falling in love with and marrying Dracula's daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez).

When Dracula starts to get a little overwhelmed by things, including his loneliness, Mavis suggests a vacation. She books a special monster cruise so that Dracula can take his mind off work and spend more time with his growing family. He's not exactly thrilled at the concept of going somewhere just like their own hotel, but all of that is put on hold when he sets eyes on the ship's human captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn). Almost instantly, and without mentioning any spoilers, one probably already knows how the main plot of the film is going to unfold, and that's perhaps my biggest criticism.

This chapter ends up being far too predictable. I'm not telling a lie when I say that as soon as I saw the ship's human captain, I knew where it was going - and that includes how it all ends. Nothing here took me by surprise, and I feel like it really lacks the overall charm of the first two. There's a few decent laughs, but in a way, that's also the problem. Where the first two seemingly had something to say (speaking more for the first than second), this one is obviously in it for the laughs above much else, and even saying that, some of these "laughs" aren't exactly spot on. It's fun, but I had a blast with the first one, while the second one made me laugh much more. This isn't without its charm, and it rounds out a trilogy, but I wasn't quite as on-board with this one as its predecessors.

As far as recommending it goes, it all depends on your stance of the first two. I think if you really liked the first one, this won't be all that special. However, if you thought the first one was weak, maybe this one's worth taking a look at. That said, I'm not entirely sure about why critics consensus' on these movies keep going up as they go, and I feel like there's something I'm missing. But of the three films, while this is still perfectly passable, I can say with all honesty that I had much more fun with the first two. To me, this feels to me like it could have been a  straight-to-video release from the get-go, and no one would have complained about it not getting a big screen release.

​3/5

---