By Cynthia Ayala
“Count Dracula and company participate in a cruise for sea-loving monsters, unaware that their boat is being commandeered by the monster-hating Van Helsing family.” —IMDB
Personally, I’m a huge fan of the Hotel Transylvania movies. I think they are great family movies and this one is no exception to that.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is a great family film that has all the heart and comedy in it. It’s not meant to be terribly complex. However, the film is able to perpetuate a strong message of acceptance, of loving those that are different than you know accepting people for their differences. That’s been the franchise this whole time, but even though it has been played out twice, it still has heart and life to it.
But anyway, this film plays with that by bringing in Dracula’s oldest enemy, Van Helsing into the mix. There is no love between these two characters at all but the movie plays on that wonderfully. The movie goes back in time to showcase the relationship between the characters, differences regarding prejudices and attitude. The jokes are the same, but the placement of the jokes still makes the film fun. They keep on coming, delivering humor and love in every scene.
Again, it’s not a very complex story by no means you know the family takes a vacation on a cruise because Dracula, well he’s lonely and overworked. But the charm of the movie isn’t just about Dracula finding love, there’s also a role reversal happening in the film. Now Maven is concerned about who her father is with, her father she has always known as being alone. It’s a hard adjustment, but also relatable. Kids never want to see their parent with other people. And then there is the longstanding joke of the werewolves are overworked with having too many children with no free time. Every parent can relate to that as kids are a handful, but the fact that the film addresses that is funny and it’s one of the moments that makes the film relatable and fun. Even though it’s a long-standing joke, it’s still funny.
It’s a great family movie to take your kids to see. And what’s more is this movie has a fantastic soundtrack and I’ll make you so dancing in your seat so what’s not to love.
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—Film Credits—
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
Written by Genndy Tartakovsky & Michael McCullers
Based on Characters by Todd Durham
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Keegan-Michael Key, Molly Shannon, Fran Drescher, Kathryn Hahn, Jim Gaffigan & Mel Brooks
Rating | Length | Genre: PG | 1h 37min | Animation, Comedy, Family
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing