In the list of things no sane person has ever wanted, the third instalment of the Hotel Transylvania franchise is right up there with Trump’s recent visit to the UK. It’s expensive, pointless and fails to bring anything of value to anyone’s life. However whether we like it or not, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is here and this time, the awfulness is dialled up to 200% with the addition of a truly detestable soundtrack packed full of loud and obnoxious dance tracks… and that’s without even mentioning its truly baffling screenplay.
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the third film in the series sees the return of a depressive Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) who after years of running his own hotel for monsters, finds himself unfulfilled and longing for new adventures. In an attempt to help bring the old Dracula back, his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) takes matters onto her own hands by booking a long overdue holiday for the whole family, including their myriad of monster friends which she hopes will bring the group closer once again. However, this soon leads the group right into the hands of an old enemy who has made it his life mission to destroy all monsters, starting with Dracula.
Despite an impressive voice cast which hails some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Steve Buscemi, Andy Samberg and model turned actress Chrissy Teigen, the film falls at the first hurdle by failing to offer a believable storyline or anything resembling a coherent narrative thread. While Hotel Transylvania and its sequel managed to stick to the essence of Dracula folklore, with added Adams Family and Munsters shenanigans, rather successfully, Summer Vacation doesn’t seem to know which way it wants to take the franchise and as a result ends up looking like a mishmash of ideas strung together with truly awful dialogue. And if that wasn’t enough, we are also treated to some of the most awful gags known to man without even a hint of irony.
On the whole, the film is a far cry from what the franchise set out to do in its first instalment, and in the end, it fails to add anything new or even challenging to the genre, and the least said about the shabby animation, the better. Having said all that, the film is sure to find an audience regardless of what critics might think. And judging by the success of the first two installments, who are we to argue with numbers?