What started out with an interesting premise and a positive message surrounding prejudice and acceptance has now burnt out the end of its wick of creativity and originality. Hotel Transylvania, the over-the-top, goofy family franchise returns with an unusual summer release (as oppose to its previous fall releases) to entertain on merely a surface level, with snappy animation and glittery colors. A message of acceptance is weakly rehashed inbetween irrelevant montages of FUN. It's summer vacation after all, baby! Chillax, the franchise is on its third installment. It tried hard to escape the traps and ease of family entertainment for the most part, and now it just couldn't fight it anymore. At least it's not a Christmas movie, right?
I'm surprised the director, Genndy Tartakovsky, still has enough energy to pump out characters with ADHD and Bipolar disorders (seriously, even the giant puppy dog, Tinkles, suffers from both of these conditions). But if you consider Tartakovsky's previous works, it's not all that surprising. Along with cartoon shows Star Wars: Clone Wars and Samurai Jack, Tartakovsky has also worked on Dexter's Laboratory and The Power Puff Girls. You can see the crazy now, can't you?
But crazy isn't necessarily a bad thing when it comes to animation. In fact, nowadays it's the norm, what with your Adventure Time and Teen Titans Go!. Unfortunately, there's a reason why animation has a bad rap for being just for kids. It's the imagination and the free rein that comes with it. Through animation, filmmakers can "easily" create bright characters against colorful backdrops doing anything they want. Create the same in a live-action movie and well... done properly the movie could look authentic and amazing. Done properly.
So really, can you fault Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation for all its overdramatic expressions, quick turning heads, and ridiculous backdrops? No, of course not. But you can fault it for the story. This time, Dracula is in pursuit of a romance himself with a human, Ericka, who turns out to be a descendant of the "monster-killing" Van Helsing family. (Unfortunately, no killing actually happens, hence the quotes.) Unlike the first Hotel Transylvania, where Dracula's daughter and a human boy fall in love despite great odds, Dracula and Ericka end up together fairly easily. Sure, the duo overcome a monstrous kraken controlled by sick beats, but the internal struggle just isn't there. Dracula, the protagonist of the series, is already cool with humans and monsters being friendly towards one another. His daughter married a human and had a kid after all. What makes the first two movies bearable, and even appealing to watch (I actually really enjoyed the first one), is the drastic character arc that Drac experiences. In the first movie, Drac as the protagonist hates and fears humans, but over the course of the story, grows fond of them and accepts his daughter relationship with Johnny. In the second movie, Drac as the protagonist cannot accept his grandson not becoming a monster, but over the course of the story, accepts his grandson for who he is. The second movie does have a slightly weaker arc compared to the first, since the grandson, Dennis, does end up becoming a vampire, which makes everyone happy (with relief?). But at least a character arc exist, which influences and changes Drac's perception of society and life. In the third movie, Drac as the protagonist attempts to woo a female human. The only hardwired way of thinking that changes is the villain's, and that happens in a very unfulfilling and cliché way (with Drac saving Van Helsing's life). There is no originality in Summer Vacation amongst the borrowed, unoriginal characters. Even at the climax of the final scene, the movie has all of the animated characters dance to "Macarena," the theme song of many animated family films (including Ferdinand). It's no wonder animated movies are labeled for kids—the stereotype is constantly being reinforced with butt dancing.
But hey (macarena), maybe you like to "Do the Macarena." While the song is usually my cue to leave the theater or a party, you can't deny it is silly, simple, and FUN! Too bad I can only use two of those descriptors to describe Hotel Transylvania 3.