Rating:
Cast: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi,
Kevin James, Fran Drescher
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
In the latest animated offering for school holidays, it's off to
Transylvania we go with the director of the truly awesome Samurai
Jack TV series and the star of Jack and Jill, Adam Sandler.
Sandler plays Count Drac, who runs the Hotel Transylvania, a refuge
for all the monsters of the world to holiday away from the
hunt-them-down-and-kill-them attitudes of the humans out
there.
But it's not just the monsters which Drac's protecting - it's also
his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) who's turning 118 and desperately
wants to fly the nest.
On the eve of Mavis' 118th birthday, Drac's gathered a whole heap
of his best friends - Frankenstein, Frankie's bride, the Mummy, the
Invisible Man, the werewolf family - to help throw a lavish party
for Mavis.
However, when a carefree backpacker, Jonathan (voiced by Andy
Samberg) finds his way into the hotel, Drac finds his
over-protective grip on life slipping and soon realises he could
lose everything.
Hotel Transylvania is a case of great premise, weak story.
Sandler gives a hit and miss performance with an Romanian accent
which is all over the place in this flick which has a frenetic pace
to no doubt cover the fact there's a distinct lack of a really
engaging story. In fact, if anything, the story is similar in
places to Monsters, Inc, where a human accidentally ends up in the
monsters' world and they try to return them.
While Tartakovsky has added a manic touch to the animation, it's
done so at the expense of the other characters - Steve Buscemi is
woefully wasted as Wolfman, as are the rest of the supporting cast,
who are forced to the sidelines by Sandler and Samberg's
double act.
All in all, Hotel Transylvania is okay for a brief stopover during the school hols for the younger end of the audience, but to be honest, thanks to hardly any meat on the story's bones, you'd hardly consider coming back for another visit.