Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Movie Review

Exclusively launching on Amazon Prime beginning this Friday January 14^th

“Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” is new movie in the series of animated comedies about a Hotel that is not located in California. All the prior movies were harmless fun, and this one continues the trend. All of these movies have been fun to watch, if not especially hilarious.

The ‘Hotel Transylvania’ is run by Dracula, known as Drac (voiced by Brian Hull). Drac’s daughter is Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) and she is married to Johnny (voiced by Andy Samberg). Drac is married to Ericka Van Helsing (voiced by Kathryn Hahn). Both Johnny and Erica are NOT monsters, along with Erica’s great-grandfather Professor Van Helsing voiced by Jim Gaffigan). All the other characters are Drac’s old pals.

These include the Mummy Murry (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), Werewolf Wayne (voiced by Steve Buscemi), Frankenstein (voiced by Brad Abrell), and the Invisible Man – Uncle Griffin (voiced by David Spade). They all are invited to the big anniversary party for the Hotel. Drac plans to retire and to give the Hotel to Mavis. But he has cold feet when he realizes that Johnny would also be in charge. He knows that Johnny is too much of a goofball to run the place.

He changes his mind and says that there is Real Estate law that forbids giving the Hotel to anyone who is not a Monster. It’s all made up, but Johnny is freaked out. He seeks out Professor Van Helsing, who happens to have a special ‘Transformer Ray Device’. Johnny wants to become a Monster, so that he and Mavis can take over the Hotel. Of course, this will not turn out well.

Johnny becomes a Monster all right. But during the ruckus, Drac and Wayne and Murry and Uncle Griffin and Frankenstein are turned human again. Yikes, what a predicament. Professor Van Helsing finds out that a unique crystal that power the Ray has been broken. There is only one place on Earth where a replacement might be found. So it is time for a Road Trip for Drac and Johnny.

Mavis and Erica find out what happened and determine that the two of them are in South America. So they take all the Monsters, who are now human, along to catch up with Johnny and Drac. Professor Van Helsing sees that his Device is not stable, and the Monster that Johnny has become will turn into a fully over-the-top Monster. There soon will be no more Johnny left…

The trip in the Amazon jungle wilderness turns into a torture session for Drac. He is not used to being human, much less hiking in hostile terrain. Johnny is having great fun, since he was a backpacker from way back. Plus all of his new Monster skills are oh, so cool! Mavis and crew are not far behind, but they will need to find the two hikers pretty soon.

Drac and Johnny have some Father and Son-In-Law bonding time. That includes cooking marshmallows, of all things. They finally locate the secret cave where the special crystal is found. But when the search party can finally locate them, will it all be too late. Is Johnny turning into a Godzilla-size beast – forever? Will the Hotel become a remnant of the past?

“Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” is not especially notable, but is a silly thing to watch. The ones who enjoyed the prior films (mostly kids) will also find this one just as enjoyable.  The main actors from prior shows have come back to do the voices of these characters. There are a couple of notable exceptions. But that does not distract from the silly shenanigans. If you liked the others, this one should also fit your bill.

Drac was played by Adam Sandler in the first three films. Frankenstein was originally voiced by Kevin James in the first three films. Since this is all animated, it is not that noticeable with the new cast.  Brian Hull and Brad Abrell both do fine as the replacements for the original actors.

“Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” is very much like the first three movies in the franchise featuring Count Drac and his friends. You could say it is in the same VEIN…

Exclusively launching on Amazon Prime beginning this Friday January 14^th