Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) Review!!

Synopsis – When Van Helsing’s mysterious invention, the “Monsterfication Ray”, goes haywire, Drac and his monster pals are all transformed into humans, and Johnny becomes a monster. In their new mismatched bodies, Drac, stripped of his powers, and an exuberant Johnny, loving life as a monster, must team up and race across the globe to find a cure before it’s too late.

My Take – Nearly every major studio has their own animated franchise, and for Sony Pictures Animation for some time now it has been the hilariously enjoyable slapstick Hotel Transylvania series, which over the course of three films has earned about $1.3 billion worldwide. Hence it should not come as a surprise to see Dracula and his gang back for more spooky adventures in the series’ fourth and (supposedly) final installment, which due to rising COVID-19 cases has skipped theaters for an exclusive Amazon Prime Video release.

Albeit there are a few production changes this time around, as this is the first film from the series not to be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (credited here as co-writer and executive producer), who has passed on the reigns to Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska, who had previously directed Monster Pets: A Hotel Transylvania Short Film.

Also missing this time around are Adam Sandler and Kevin James, who previously voiced Dracula and Frankenstein, respectively. Instead they have been replaced by Brian Hull, a YouTuber and impressionist who previously played Dracula in the Monster Pets short film, and Brad Abrell.

Rest assured, a vast majority of young fans will never notice these changes, as even without Adam Sandler voicing Drac the film ends up delivering exactly what’s expected from it – a perfectly enjoyable rehash of the earlier films’ successes.

While the film has laughs and entertaining moments galore, comparatively as a writer Tartakovsky, along with Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo, make little effort in the story department. But I guess the point of such animation films is not plot, but the quick delivery of humor, frenetic energy, physical comedy and a moral ending message about Drac learning yet another lesson about acceptance. On that front, the film is another for Sony.

The story once again follows Dracula (voiced by Brian Hull), who at the celebration of his Hotel’s 125th anniversary has decided to pass off reins to Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez), his beloved daughter who he has seen grow up within the walls of the establishment, and quietly retire with his new wife, Ericka Van Helsing (voiced by Kathryn Hahn). However, while he is convinced of Mavis’ ability to keep things running, he absolutely does not trust her human disaster husband, Johnny (voiced by Andy Samberg) to do the same.

Unfortunately for Drac, his lie about a real estate law about monsters ends up convincing the always-optimistic Johnny to transform himself into a monster using a device created by Dracula’s own great-grandfather-in-law, Abraham Van Helsing (voiced by Jim Gaffigan), however, the same device also ends up turning Drac and his monster friends — Frankenstein (voiced by Brad Abrell), werewolf Wayne (voiced by Steve Buscemi), The invisible man Griffin (voiced by David Spade), and Murray the mummy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) into humans.

Like its predecessors, this fourth installment too glides by without belaboring its general theme of accepting your family for who they are. Unlike the last few films, the film has more side characters than the creators of most animated series would know what to do with, particularly Ericka and her cranky great-grandfather Van Helsing. Thankfully, the Drac Pack never really gets in the way of Dracula and Johnny’s amusing South American jungle adventure. A setup that allows Drac, among other things, to suffer through sunlight in the most extreme ways a human can.

The characters too remain as endearing as ever, no mean feat after four films. Though the character and emotional dynamics of these situations are largely familiar, here, directors Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska keep finding new physical dynamics to keep the animation fresh and funny.

Whenever a big chase sequence threatens to turn into a de facto theme park ride, the film will throw out a series of quick-hit gags or harebrained visual ideas, to keep things hilariously entertaining. While many of the jokes in the film probably won’t linger in your mind, they are still fairly well-executed. The amount of havoc the normally goofy but fairly harmless Johnny can wreak as a monster is impressive, and there are plenty of easy laughs to be had watching all of the familiar monsters of Drac’s pack in their new human forms.

One of the series’ biggest strengths has always been its animation and its embrace of a more exaggerated, elastic character animation and here it just looks gorgeous. Personally, I have always enjoyed the way that the monsters look, but turning them into humans was such a smart decision. It makes for a really unique plot and is a great way to switch up the animation here a bit. The design of the gang as humans, and of Johnny as a monster, is enough to make viewers giggle.

Sure, as a franchise, it had begun to feel like a bit routine back in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) itself, young viewers especially who already have an affinity for the film series likely will find enough to keep them entertained in this final installment.

Voice performances wise, Brian Hull is a mostly solid replacement for Sandler, to be frank I couldn’t exactly differentiate, Andy Samberg goes a little over board this time around, and Selena Gomez keeps things smooth. In supporting roles, Steve Buscemi, Kathryn Hahn, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon, Brad Abrell, Asher Blinkoff and Jim Gaffigan are equally good. On the whole, ‘Hotel Transylvania: Transformania‘ is an enjoyable animated comedy that is hilarious and gorgeous looking enough for a good family time.