Film: “Hotel Transylvania”

Rating: PG

Category: Animated

Nothing like a good ol’ monster flick to get ready for the Halloween season.

Director Genndy Tartkovsky’s “Hotel Transylvania” does exactly that while grabbing the child in all of us. Tartakovsky, the writer of Cartoon Network’s “Samurai Jack,” has applied his fantastic and unique creativity in bringing this film to life.

In the film, Hotel Transylvania is owned by Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) and it is where all monsters around the world go to relax on vacation and escape from the humans. Humans are dreadfully hated and are forbidden from ever entering the hotel.

But a human named Johnny (Andy Samberg) stumbles upon the hotel one day while on an adventure and is “so stoked” about all the “weird dudes.” Ironically, Dracula’s daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), wishes to go out and see the world, but Dracula won’t allow her to leave so she can be kept safe from the humans.

When two young hearts with the same ambition for adventure and curiosity about the rest of the world meet, what could possibly happen?

Yes, they are likely to fall in love and Dracula will not approve due to his hatred for humans. This movie seems to be very predictable and very self-explanatory.

But this film isn’t completely cliche, despite what the formulaic plot suggests. It’s unique in its own way and Tartakovsky went in the right direction.

It applies humor and romance all together like most of Sandler’s movies, but it does throw a little amount of somber in the mix. This helps the viewers get to know the main characters very well and keeps the viewers wanting to know what happens next.

The main characters, Dracula, Mavis, and Johnny, each have distinct personalities that the voice actors create well.

Each of the voice actors really applied themselves into making the characters come to life. Anyone can tell which character is which actor in the film.

When a large mummy rolled through the doors of the hotel and made his introduction, it was obvious that Cee-Lo Green was present in this character. Overall, the actors make the characters very believable, and definitely not boring or annoying.

Although there are times when viewers can get dizzy and disorientated, all of the scenes flow well together.

Fortunately, the dizzying transitions between scenes do not occur throughout the entire film.  There are just splashes of them here and there.

There are many different angles during the action scenes, and are slow motion to make it seem more personal.

This adorable and fun movie deserves  four out of  five Grizzly paws because of its animation,  quirky plot line, character development, and the quality of acting.

It doesn’t matter how old anyone is, creepy and ugly monsters are always fun.

Follow Marlena Granieri on Twitter @msmartinii

Rating: 4  out of 5 Grizzly paws