Hotel Transylvania (3D)

Are you a “monster nerd”? I am. There's no doubt that a monster nerd will enjoy this film. I enjoyed every bit of it. It had the silly humor I'd been missing from animated movies this year. We didn't get a great animated film this year, might as well cherish the stupidity. While you're laughing, you realize that this film also has a little bit of heart. The primary reason why the film worked for me is the little movie references sprinkled all over. The classic monsters from the Hollywood 40s including the giant tarantula and octopus check-in here. The nostalgia is cheeky and extremely satisfying.

Of course this isn't Pixar quality. Let's just leave expectations of wanting a Monsters, Inc. (2001) at the door. No, this isn't a terrible Adam Sandler film either. Far from it. Leaving this preconception at the door too? Great, that's my boy!

Hotel Transylvania is about Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) who runs a five-star hotel for his fellow monsters. His wife died a century ago and he is the sole parent to his goth daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez). He is an over-protective dad. Why shouldn't he be? She is only 118 years old.

There are a few specific reasons why I enjoyed this film. These reasons are minor in the bigger picture but largely won me over. One of them is a joke about how Count Dracula's most quoted catchphrase is “blah blah blah” in scary voice. “I do NOT say blaah blaah blaah”, he clears it up. This literally had me in splits each time someone did it. There is also a little Twilight joke, which is hilarious. The insipid goofiness of this movie is also a major cause why most adults would dismiss it. How much can a grown-up laugh at the Invisible Man?

Of course, this isn't a three and a half star film. It's probably a two or a two and a half star one. Three at best. But if I gave it an objective rating without honestly putting forth what I felt, it would be an utter disservice to you and to me. If I had to point out one more reason why I enjoyed and hence connected with this film, it would be that if these monsters actually surfaced from wherever they are hiding, I would be incredibly happy to celebrate their existence. The film captures just that.

There isn't much for the adults here. Only for the children. There are a few scary moments, which might actually be too much for them. The child in me was pleased. The monster nerd in me only has one question though. Victor Frankenstein is the doctor's name. He created the monster. In Mary Shelley's novel (she also gets a wink here), the monster is never assigned a name. This is a widely committed pop-culture faux pas. A film like this one, which wears its monster love on its sleeve, did not wish to be a little more puristic? You know what? I'm one of those people who get anal about horror film accuracy and it didn't occur to me even once that the film repeats this glitch until after I came out of the theater. I was so busy having fun.

While the year has seen plenty of animated movies, none have been quite technically path breaking or particularly thematically endearing. So arrives Adam Sandler with the exceptional talents of Genndy Tartakovosky to give us only the second full length animated feature of his career, 'Hotel Transylvania'. Tartakovosky is the man behind many animated show classics such as 'Dexter's Laboratory' , 'The Powerpuff Girls' and 'Samurai Jack' amongst many others. Unfortunately this animated movie doesn't quite bear his usual stamp of quality and rather seems far too influenced by executive producer Adam Sandler's usual brand of humour.

Count Dracula (voice of Adam Sandler) lives in Hotel Transylvania with his daughter Mavis (voice of Selena Gomez). After the death of his wife at the hands of some pitchfork and torch bearing villagers he decided to construct a hotel that acts like a sanctuary for all kinds of monsters so they can be safe from humans. Mavis however craves to go out and see the world but Dracula carefully manipulates her first outing to a nearby village and she returns disheartened realising that everything her father said about the “evil” humans is true. Dracula's relief however is short-lived as a young human backpacker; Johnny (voice of Adam Sandberg) arrives at the hotel and turns things on their head. Dracula can't let the other monster guests know a human is in their midst else they'll stop believing in the sanctity of the hotel. Mavis however takes a shine to Johnny and his tales of having travelled the world but doesn't know that he is human.

The themes of differentiation and alienation are tackled in the movie but there's no real struggle for the characters. Though the father-daughter relationship holds its share of moments, it isn't quite fleshed out enough; however like I said, it does have its moments.

Numerous references to peeing, farting and other bodily functions are scattered throughout, but knowing Adam Sandler is involved it doesn't surprise me. Plenty of chase sequences made purely to excite the little ones and show off some of that tepid 3D abound and really add nothing to the story overall.

The movie does contain a few nice touches like the hotel's cook, Quasimodo (voice of Jon Lovitz) a French chef with a bad temper and penchant for human delicacies. Almost like trying to spoof Ratatouille, he even has a similar looking pet rat and runs a restaurant called 'Hunchbacks'. The climatic journey through a monster festival and the bit on a plane in the end containing a hilarious twilight reference are pretty funny.

'Hotel Transylvania' contains some decent animation and an underwhelming plot with some gross out potty humour but it also has some smart in-jokes about monster movies; however that alone isn't enough to recommend this movie. Avoid it in theatres.