“Surprise!” exclaims Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez). “A sea cruise?” asks a surprised Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) as his daughter prepares to take him, along with their family and friends, on their first-ever vacation in the third installment of the animated comedy film series, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.
As the film opens, Drac’s feeling lonely and his pals encourage him to try to meet someone. His daughter, Mavis, knows something is bothering her father but he’s always used work and running the hotel to cover the fact he doesn’t want her to know he wants to re-enter the dating world. Mavis thinks her dad needs a break from providing the perfect vacation spot for everyone else, so she surprises Dracula and his pals with a monster vacation sea cruise.
The luxury liner has everything a monster could want including monster pool volleyball, all you can eat buffet, exotic excursions, and the chance to catch up on getting a full moon tan. The vacation’s a success and everyone’s having a great time, especially Drac who falls bat over wings for the ship’s captain, Erika (voiced by Kathryn Hahn). Unfortunately for the Drac pack, Erika is really the descendant of Abraham Van Helsing, Dracula’s old nemesis. And just like her great grandfather, Erika is determined to destroy Dracula along with the rest of his monster pals.
With plenty of visually chaotic antics, goofy humor, and a sweet message about putting family first, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is another solid and entertaining installment in the animated Drac Pack series. All the original voice cast return and do solid jobs of bringing these characters to life, but it’s really Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez who are spotlighted this time around with the focus on Dracula hoping to find love again and Mavis determined to give her dad a vacation he’ll never forget.
The introduction of Erika and the possible romance forces some of the classic characters, such as Wayne aka Wolfman (voiced by Steve Buscemi), Griffin aka The Invisible Man (voiced by David Spade), and Frank aka Frankenstein Monster (voiced by Kevin James), to take a much noticed back seat to the action and fun. Wayne literally disappears a little more than half-way through the film and doesn’t return until near the very end of the movie. Sadly, this removes a good portion of the humor and antics that made Hotel Transylvania 2, which ranks as the best film of the franchise, so funny and enjoyable to watch.
Still, with silly humor, crazy visuals, solid voice performances, and two important messages for children – family comes first and to accept everyone as they are, differences and all – Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation delivers solid laughs for the entire family.
GRADE: B-
MPAA Rating: PG for some action and rude humor
Running Time: 1 hour 37 minutes
Release Date: July 13, 2018
Directed By: Genndy Tartakovsky
