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Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Jonathan (Andy Samberg) in Hotel Transylvania 3.Sony Pictures Animation/Sony Pictures

  • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
  • Written by: Genndy Tartakovsky, Michael McCullers
  • Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
  • Starring the voices of: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Jim Gaffigan, Kathryn Hahn, Mel Brooks
  • Classification: G
  • 97 minutes

Rating:

1.5 out of 4 stars

The deal with the new Hotel Transylvania animated comedy is that Count Dracula needs a vacation, but, really, it’s the creative team behind the franchise who could use the time off. Directed and co-written by Genndy Tartakovsky, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation doesn’t involve a hotel, nor does it take place in Transylvania. The jokes are so-so, and the monsters (led by an unmenacing Dracula) aren’t terrifying at all. In fact, the whole point of the series is to teach children that monsters are no different than humans. Is it a message of inclusivity? Possibly, but why label those unlike us as “monsters,” then? Anyway, the third installment is about the Adam Sandler-voiced Dracula taking a cruise with his freaks and family, upon which an unusually clueless Count is so infatuated with the curvy Captain Ericka Van Helsing (Kathryn Hahn) that he fails to detect her attempts to kill him. She never tries a wooden stake, though, and Dracula doesn’t so much as nibble a neck. Has anyone at all read Bram Stoker? Fangs for nothing, Hotel Transylvania 3: Your vampire isn’t biting, and neither am I.

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