Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Dir. Genndy Tartakovsky, 1h 37m)

 
Hotel Transylvania 3, much like the previous two films of the series is a perfectly serviceable slice of summer entertainment, featuring the misadventures of monster hotelier Dracula (Adam Sandler, proving that he still has has a career and fearsome comedic chops), and his ever growing family, as he, together with daughter Mavis (Selina Gomez), her husband, Johnny, and their friends and their families swap the familiar surroundings of the hotel for the high seas, whilst seeking love in the most unlikely places.

Much like the previous two films, where the film is strongest is its comedy, both physical and verbal-there's a great opening sequence in which Dracula's nemesis, Abraham Von Helsing, another of Tartakovsky tracks down the vampire and his comrades on a train, before an excellent cut series of smash cuts show their continual battles over the years, with excellent jokes and slapstick throughout, before Von Helsing is finally dispatched.
Sandler, for his part is on top form, his Dracula turning, this film, into a helpless romantic, enchanted with the captain of the ship that forms the setting for the vast majority of this film, Erika (Kathryn Hahn), and moving from the uptight father to a party animal at points, Hawaiian shirt and all. There is a great sense of fun about this role, which reminds us that Sandler can be a great actor when he wants to be, and, as with the first two films, the animation matches the high energy of the character admirably at points, particularly in a sequence where Dracula struts along the deck whilst under attack, dodging projectiles and attacks to a dance track.

The rest of the cast, with the continuing quality of the voice cast (including Steve Buscemi, Kevin Hart, and David Spade, not to mention Mel Brooks as Dracula's father), continue to be the best thing about this film, much as Sandler is superb, with these characters interactions with each other enjoyable, funny, and well placed throughout the film; Dracula's friends are supportive, but occasionally poke fun at their friend, Mavis is a concerned daughter, her husband an easy-going link to the human world, and their son a well-written and (in a medium that never particularly seems to get children right), likable and mischievous child, causing chaos, and bringing the colossal family dog along.

Equally likable, in the best way that villains can be, is Abraham Von Helsing, and his great granddaughter, Ericka, who slowly unfold their dastardly plan to find an ultimate weapon against the monsters, using the ship, and the monster casino of Atlantis, particularly with Abraham replacing his body with a steampunkish contraption to replace his organs. Ericka, meanwhile, is a character trapped between her family's monster hunting tradition, and a strange romance budding between her and Dracula.
The film is also, animation wise, visually spectacular at points, from the pure vastness of the size of the ship, to the glitzy, Vegas-ish, Atlantis, to the final battle, in which a most unlikely battle occurs between Dracula and his friends, and both Van Helsings, and the characters are all excellently designed, well animated, and well realised.

This is not to say that Hotel Transylvania 3 is a classic-the film's plot often feels baggy, its reliance on its eclectic soundtrack becoming less a gentle lean, and more a buttressing of the film's action, and with Dracula and his family's narrative arc seemingly coming to an end in this film, it seems that the film slowly winds down, subplots dropped or simply lost along the way, whilst the focus of the previous two films, Mavis and Jonathon, seem to get very little focus aside from a rather tired "we're still a family" Aesop. Even the rather well-written romance between Dracula and Ericka seems to appear and disappear as the plot demands, and the denoument to it seems to appear out of nowhere.

Despite this, compared to some of the other animation fare of this year, Hotel Transylvania 3 is a reasonably charming film, with more heart than most, and a well-written, well acted set of characters, together with a great grasp of physical and verbal humour.

Rating: Neutral