Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation - A RMNT Review

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is the latest installment of the Hotel Transylvania film series from Sony Pictures Animation, with Genndy Tartakovsky returning to direct and as its co-writer for the first time in the series, with Adam Sandler reprising his leading role as Dracula, along the same cast and with other new characters making their debut in the franchise. The first film released in 2012 was an enjoyably great first film, the second film from 2015 had its flaws, but was still entertaining, but all that ended when I saw this...

The film is set a few months after the events of the previous film where Mavis, Dracula's daughter, sees that her father could use a long-needed break from running the titular hotel and puts together a vacation from running everyone's vacations, for him to relax and spend time with his family. Mavis surprises him with a cruise, which of course, Dracula isn't enthusiastic about, especially he says, and I quote: "Its a hotel on a boat!", which pretty much sums up my reaction after reading the premise. He's willing to give it a try since what matters is that he gets to be with his family, but that all changes when he meets the human captain of the cruise ship, Ericka, and falls completely in love with her, but unbeknownst to him, she's the great-granddaughter of his old enemy, Abraham Van Helsing, and seeks to destroy him to restore the family legacy! But from that point, you can clearly predict how the film will end within the first ten minutes. The plot is also very incoherent, full of many segments that show little importance, as it feels more like a compilation of animated shorts packed in a 97-minute film, instead of, well, being a feature-length one. The humor consists of funny dialogue, individual character moments, and character interactions, but all lacks that clever wit and proper delivery from the previous films, making the execution feel either awkward, ridiculous, unnecessary, forced and it seems that most of the character animation and facial expressions are doing the job, making you assume that the animators knew that the material was weak and that this was their backup plan. Other than a couple of small chuckle-worthy moments, I didn't laugh once during its entirety. The third act alone is the final nail in the coffin, especially when, I kid you not, the film plays "The Macarena" and the results are beyond ridiculous in a cringing way. The ending alone also feels like its a hurry to finish, like there was no thought or effort put into it.

The voice cast from the previous films return including Adam Sandler as Dracula, along with new characters being introduced, one of them being Ericka, his new love interest. The rest of Dracula's gang from Hotel Transylvania join along in the cruise trip, but if you're expecting to see important development, don't bother, there isn't any. All you see are just the main characters and recurring characters relaxing, dancing, heading to planned stops for different activities. I mean, come on, what did you expect, action and drama? The title clearly sums up what the film is going to be about in a nutshell! As for the relationship between Dracula and Ericka, like I said, its the kind of chemistry we've seen many times, and by the way "spoilers": she hates him, but as the film progresses, she sees Dracula's charm, his good-hearted nature and his genuine interaction with his family, making her slowly fall in love with him too, leading to the clichéd rom-com complication. But as I stated before, the results are predictable and the romance feels forced, and speaking of romance... The first film introduces the "zing", which is a strong first love connection between two people, thus the expression "You only zing once...". Dracula had that with his first love, Martha, who sadly died over a century ago and this was addressed beautifully well, but the second film and especially the third film, insultingly threw that important element away with little respect, all for the sake of forcing the new relationship of Dracula and Ericka. As for the voice cast, they all do fine jobs as usual, but the material they're given feels like a mixture of hit and miss, which really doesn't exactly count as solid characterization...

The franchises' signature animation style returns and its more cartoony than it was in the previous film. As expected, it remains fast-paced, energetic, and with plenty use of the classic stretch and squash, but in CG form. This is the best highlight of course, as Tartakovsky wanted to incorporate that style seen in classic cartoons from Tex Avery and Chuck Jones. The rendering is also very appealing as it shows plenty of texture in the skin, hair, scales, smokes, the water, and many more. The scenery is also a plus from the stunning interior craftsmanship of the cruise ship Legacy, plenty of lighting effects to set different moods such as going snorkeling, and exterior of Atlantic in the style of Las Vegas and its indoor setting, and finally in the third act, a battle taking place during a DJ battle and that's where I'm going to stop. While the animation is still a joy to watch for many lovers of the medium such as myself, it doesn't help the film be any better.

For the first time in 2018, I left the theater feeling very disappointed as Hotel Transylvania 3 is shown to be a massive letdown. The plot was poorly predictable within the first few minutes with no clear focus at all, the characters show little importance in development, despite the talented voice cast, the humor was non-existent, the soundtrack is weak and unnecessary to be "hip"with the younger generation, the main message was unsubtle in its delivery, and its signature animation being poorly wasted on this sinking mess. What's even sadder is that its co-writer is the same man who created Dexter's Laboratory, the Star Wars micro series, and Samurai Jack, which is one of the inspirations to develop my own passion project, but after seeing this... I feel truly sorry for him as I'm sure he had good intentions during development, but I think its time that he puts a wooden stake in the franchise's heart and move on.

Story: 1 / 5

Characters: 2 / 5

Animation: 3.5 / 5

Final rating: 1.5 / 5