Directed by Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, teaches a hard lesson in honesty and patience.
In a scenario familiar to parents the world over, Dracula (Brian Hull) is not a fan of the human dating his daughter Mavis. Mavis (Selena Gomez) is head-over-heels in love with Jonathan (Andy Samberg) and expects her dad to accept him as he is, but Drac wasn’t having it.
The film opens with a hauntingly funny version of “Just The Two Of Us” as Drac recounts a long list of memories that he and his daughter shared together. Realizing that she’s no longer “daddy’s little girl”, he makes certain plans that would end up allowing Mavis to control the hotel. The problem? That means Johnny would have a piece of it too. So, as a move to prevent Johnny from having any piece of it, he makes up a lie about having to be a monster in order to control or acquire a property. That leads to the chaos and hijinks that occur afterwards.
Transformania shows a lighter, friendlier side of traditionally scary characters. You’ll get laughs from not only Drac, but Frankenstein, a mummy, an invisible man, a werewolf, and even the mad-scientist antics of Van Helsing.
At the end of the day, it takes the most extreme circumstances for Drac to deal with reality, which is that he pre-judged Johnny and made no attempts to see his true character. Mavis showed the ultimate patience with her father as he made a mess of things from beginning to end, but ultimately tried to atone for his sins.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania gets a 7.5 out of 10. It’s funny, it’s short, and pretty straight to the point. Some of the scenes with Drac were too much (mosquitoes, falling, arguing, etc.) but the rest of the cast were pretty balanced with their dialogue. The innocent, light-hearted fun was apparent by the opening song and the hotel staff dancing to a remix of the Cupid Shuffle. As the final chapter of the Hotel Transylvania film series, it brings a proper end to a franchise that’s warmed hearts for over 10 years.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania will open exclusively on Amazon Prime globally on January 14, 2022.
-Jon Jones