Hotel Transylvania
We all know the stories of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and many others. However, this story takes these creatures of the night that we all love and turns them into a family friendly group. How well did it turn out? Let's sink our teeth in and find out.
The story begins with Dracula (Adam Sandler) playing with his baby girl, Mavis (Selena Gomez). As they grow up, we see that Dracula is teaching Mavis that humans are the real horrors of the world. They attack monsters with their horrible pitchforks and torches. Eventually, Dracula is informed that his castle, Hotel Transylvania, is completed and that no human could ever get near him or his daughter. Fast-forward to the present where Dracula is throwing a birthday party for Mavis' 118th birthday. He invites all of the other monsters, just like every year, and, just like Mavis, Dracula makes sure that they all know how dangerous humans are. Eventually, just as luck would have it, a human named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) comes into the hotel. Dracula takes him into a broom closet where he questions how Jonathan got here and how he's going to get him out. So he dresses Jonathan as a relative of Frankenstein's (Kevin James) family, which he surprisingly gets away with. However, there's one problem. Dracula can't get him out of the castle without Mavis noticing, since she's taken a liking to Jonathan. So now Dracula has to find a way to get Jonathan out without his true identity being known and without Mavis finding out.
As you can see, the story isn't half bad, especially given the plots of some of Sandler's other movies. As for Sandler himself, he's actually pretty funny as Dracula. He's goofy, like always, but he's not over-the-top annoyingly goofy. He plays the character pretty straight forward and even gets emotional when it comes to Dracula's wife. As for the other monsters, they were all amazing. My favorite would have to be Murray the Mummy (CeeLo Green). Every time he was on screen, I found myself laughing harder and harder. He was just one hilarious character. As for the connection between the characters, it's pulled off great. Dracula really grows in this film, more than anyone else. You can really feel him go from this human-hating creature into a kind-hearted vampire. He even gets really emotional when he talks about his wife's death to Jonathan. Then there's the visuals and, man, where they amazing. It's just a flawless blend of a cartoony style mixed with the ominous feeling of these various creatures.
Alas, not every movie is flawless in every way. The jokes can get pretty kiddy, and when I say kiddy, I mean REALLY kiddy. They almost ruin the experience for anyone older. *SPOILER ALERT FROM HERE UNTIL THE END OF THE PARAGRAPH, I WILL TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS CLOSE TO THE END. IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS, SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED* Also, there's a serious lack of backstory for when the townspeople begin to love the monsters. We're just told that it's been years since Dracula has seen a human and BOOM! Everyone seems to love monsters. Jonathan doesn't even explain why people love monsters now. I get that this is a kid's movie, but that doesn't excuse a lack of explanation.
So should you see this movie? Of course. Even if you don't like Adam Sandler, and no one can honestly blame you after Jack and Jill, this movie is still worth seeing. I promise that you'll forget that you're even watching a movie with Sandler in it. It's great family fun