Cineanalyst I'm sure plenty of children and families adore "Hotel Transylvania," but not every animated kiddie movie is without intelligence, so I'm not going to cut it any slack. Another animated monster kids movie, Pixar's "Monster's, Inc." (2001), for instance, is kind of clever in its use of doors to multiple universes. And, although not animated, "The Monster Squad" (1987) manages to pay homage to classic monster movies and remain charming despite some childish humor. "Hotel Transylvania" features many of the same monsters as that film and more, including Dracula and his daughter, Frankenstein and his bride, werewolves, mummies, an invisible man, a gillman and Quasimodo, but they've basically nothing to do with their sources in novels or prior movies. They're more akin to the monster cereals, such as Count Chocula and Frenken Berry--mere caricatures, overly sweet and not very good for you.In "Hotel Transylvania," Dracula has clipped the wings, so to speak, of his bat daughter, but he must learn to allow her to fly the coop. He also runs a hotel for monsters. The Dracula of "Nocturna" (1979) did the same thing, the film also had plenty of music like this one (except it was disco), and Dracula's daughter fell in love with a human. The similarities stop there, though, since "Nocturna" also had gratuitous nudity and an old Dracula complaining about how his reproductive organs don't work as well anymore (although, here, the Invisible Man defends the size of his in one pool-side gag). "Hotel Transylvania," on the other hand, has Count-less butt jokes, including a fart that's let on fire. I'm not sure which is worse, but I know fire is bad.There's a joke at the expense of the "Twilight" series, where Dracula sardonically remarks, "This is how we're represented." Right back at you, Count Chocula; "Hotel Transylvania" isn't fang-tastic, either. Nor had I ever heard Dracula say "blah blah blah," and I've seen well over 50 Dracula movies since reading Bram Stoker's novel. Perhaps, the worst caricature of all, though, is Quasimodo as the hotel chef. Why is he a chef? Because he's French, I guess. That's racist. Anyways, the movie wraps up like a bad rom-com but replaces the father for the girl or boy chasing down the other for a grand romantic gesture. It's kind of like "The Wedding Singer" (1998) and with the same actor.Another quibble I have with this movie is that when they list off Dracula's vulnerabilities--sunlight, garlic, stakes to the heart--they don't mention crosses. I get that they threw out all of the sex and violence from Dracula--even though that was most of Stoker's book--it's a kid's movie, after all. But the religion? I think that was a shrewd commercial move to avoid offending any audience, except for maybe cranky old Dracula buffs like me. But, they've made millions of dollars off this franchise and, as of this writing, about to release the third movie installment, so they know what they're doing. I don't have to like it, though.(Mirror Note: No mirror shots in this Dracula movie, either.)

Animated Antic The name Genndy Tartakovsky is a name that most animation fans will appreciate and even if you haven't heard of him, you probably have heard of the shows he created at Cartoon Network like "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Samurai Jack". The name Adam Sandler on the other hand, is not a name most film fans will appreciate. This was the man who did bring us some of the worst comedies ever made like "Jack and Jill" as well as create "Eight Crazy Nights" which despite it's grand and glorious animation is one of the worst animated movies ever made. Seeing the two team up is a little odd, though that's what they did with the help of Sony Pictures Animation which resulted in the movie "Hotel Transylvania", a film that has gotten an interesting reaction from both critics and audiences a like. Where the critics hated this movie, audiences seem to like it. As for me, I think it's decent. Is it a terrible and childish movie? No. So, is it a modern Halloween classic? Also no. I'll get into why in a minute, but first let me sum up the plot. Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) has built a hotel for all monsters to go to relax and go on vacation away from "evil humans" as well as keeping his only daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) safe after his wife Martha was killed by the humans years ago. With her 118th birthday approaching, Mavis is curious about the human world and wants to explore it though her father is still reluctant and wants to keep her safe. However, things go upside down for Dracula when a human tourist named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) accidentally stumbles into the hotel. Wanting to keep the guest from being scared, Dracula disguises Jonathan as a sort of Frankenstein monster and only gets into a bigger sticky situation when Mavis starts to develop romantic feelings for Jonathan. What happens next are lots of crazy shenanigans and fast paced humor that explaining the whole story would be too much so I'll just leave it there and get to my thoughts.This is certainly a very creative film. The idea of monsters staying at a hotel away from humans is a very clever and unique plot which does lead to some creative jokes and fast paced humor, though the film does have moments to let the audience catch their breath with some pretty effective slower moments. The scene where Dracula tells an emotional backstory in the film was actually surprisingly really well handled which is something I was really impressed with by the film. As for the animation, if you want crazy, zany fast paced animation, here it is. This film really knows how to do fast paced animation well which really reminded me of the old cartoons from 40's and 50's or even that Baby Herman short at the beginning of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" yet it does bring me to a small criticism. Though the film worked well in computer animation, it would have really shined had it been hand drawn. These character designs seemed to be made to be drawn by a pencil and not by pixels and it was even clearly proved during the end credits where we see 2D versions of the characters. It's nothing too major, but I feel that seeing it being done traditionally would have been a major plus for this film. Most of the jokes really work. Even though it is kind of juvenile at times particularly in the opening, this film did have some good laughs including a scene that took a stab at "Twilight". Yeah, I have to give credit to this movie. They really made a great anti-Twilight joke. Now how are the characters, particularly Adam Sandler as Count Dracula? Actually, they're mostly fun. I was a little nervous when I first heard the casting of Sandler as Dracula, but he managed to really pull off the character and his voice actually mostly unrecognizable. Even the other monsters in the film work. I think the funniest monster is Eunice who's the Bride of Frankenstein. Having her always push her poor husband around did make me chuckle a lot not to mention having her played by Fran Drescher was also an ideal choice. There are things that I didn't like about the movie, most notably the soundtrack. Man, this is one dated soundtrack. Although Mark Mothersbaugh's score is pretty good, the songs sounded like they came from an eight year old's kid's iPod from 2012. The autotune also really got on my nerves and having to listen to these terrible pop songs just irritated me.So while I don't think "Hotel Transylvania" is a great movie by any means, I certainly don't think it's as bad as what other critics have said. It does have a creative story, the animation is really fast paced and enjoyable (even though it would've been better hand drawn) and the characters did have some funny things to them. In my opinion, this movie seems to be suited as a fun silly movie to throw on during a party and that's it. I think it's good for a one time watch, but really it's not much of a classic.

Pjtaylor-96-138044 The standard themes of familial acceptance, 'leaving the nest' and putting the needs of others above those of your own are told surprisingly well through suitably rubbery animation, ostensibly ham-fisted voice-work and lovably re-crafted classic characters. 'Hotel Transylvania (2012)' is generally generic but consistently pretty fun, and at times actually funny, to the point where I don't mind the fact I've essentially seen it all before. It's clearly Adam Sandler's best work for quite a bit. 7/10

Eric Stevenson I'm skeptical to like anything by Adam Sandler, but my hope went up when I found that none other than Genndy Tartakovsky was directing this film. He was a big part of my childhood with cartoons like "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Samurai Jack". Now, I know it's hard to make the transition to CGI, but he made it just fine. It's a pity that this movie didn't do too well with critics, although it still got a much higher score than most of Adam Sandler's movies. Tartakovsky is what makes this movie. What stands out as the best parts are probably how beautifully animated this film is. The colors are gorgeous and there's so much movement.I keep hearing there's lots of hidden things in this, but I didn't see most of them. I'm normally not a fan of celebrity voices, but it was done well here, especially considering the sheer number of bad movies of any kind these actors have been in. While I praise the film for being wacky, I really did get the emotional bits in it. There's lots of great jokes of course. I admit that some parts of it aren't that good. It's weird how they are so easily accepted into the human world. It's kind of a dues ex machina. I saw the second movie first and I think this one is better, but they're both enjoyable. ***