Genndy Tartakovsky
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Written by Peter Baynham (Arthur Christmas) and Robert Smigel (Saturday Night Live’s “TV Funhouse”) from a story by Todd Durham, Dan Hageman, and Kevin Hageman, Hotel Transylvania essentially marries the monster/human fear reversal of Monsters Inc. (1998) with the overprotective-father-needing-to-let-go themes of Finding Nemo (2003)—and if those references seem a tad dated, bear in mind that Hotel Transylvania was greenlit back in 2006 and has been through nearly half a dozen directors.
However, unlike those films, Hotel Transylvania is overstuffed with on-the-nose humor and an underwhelming storyline that each borrow heavily from other animated films, especially Finding Nemo , without offering anything new or compelling to the mix.
Similar in theme from the recent re-release of Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo , this story is centered around an overprotective dad who’s trying to shelter his child from the big bad world.
Turns out that with its theme of an overprotective dad who needs to learn about letting go, “Transylvania” could also be aiming for some of the current “Finding Nemo” crowd — and the work is entertaining enough that such ambitions wouldn’t be completely deluded.
So “Hotel Transylvania” takes the overprotective dad premise of “Finding Nemo” and wraps it in the central monsters-are-scared-of-humans joke of “Monsters, Inc.” with a “Ratatouille” reference to boot.
An overprotective father, a slightly rebellious child and the big, bad world that's out there lying in wait — in " Finding Nemo ," that provided the sturdy framework for a lovely, funny, artful story.
The Addams Family (2019)
Directed by Conrad Vernon
influenced by Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Themes Visuals
Clearly aimed at the same audience that have lapped up the trio of similarly themed Hotel Transylvania movies (although that series has far more common in the Addams' TV rival The Munsters ), Sausage Party duo Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon's take is a darkly sweet allegory about being who you are.
Adam Sandler has pulled it off three times as Count Dadula in the “Hotel Transylvania” series.
The standard of the animation, however, is less than lush, and doesn't sit well in comparison with most recent studio releases, such as the similar Hotel Transylvania franchise.
But this movie somehow looks even harsher and less detailed than the similarly conceived Hotel Transylvania series; there’s not much texture here, not much visual complexity.
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Directed by Jay Roach
influenced Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
Plot
Co-writer/director Genndy Tartakovsky, who also directed on both of the previous Hotel Transylvania movies, supposedly drew inspiration for his screenplay (written with Austin Powers’ Michael McCullers) from a real cruise vacation, and while I assume some of the incidents here are fiction (like the giant dog who sneaks onto the ship by disguising himself with a hat and trenchcoat), the frustrations and pleasures of a real family outing are embedded in the film’s incidents.
Returning writer-director Genndy Tartakovsky, aided by new blood in the form of The Boss Baby and Austin Powers trilogy scribe Michael McCullers, simply combines the premise of Despicable Me 2 with Dracula lore to anaemic effect.
Sitting through this film will easily make you want to watch Young Frankenstein.
The comic presence of Brooks, who created effective horror pastiche Young Frankenstein in 1974, is one of the fresh elements which give returning director Genndy Tartakovsky more to play with here.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Directed by Charles Barton
influenced Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Not since Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein have the great Universal monsters been subjected to such dismal treatment.
A sort of computer-animated revamp of the 1967 stop-motion Rankin/Bass production " Mad Monster Party?
They'd be better off checking out the far superior, infinitely cleverer 1987 gem "The Monster Squad."
The Addams Family 2 (2021)
Directed by Greg Tiernan
influenced by Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Themes Plot
Considering the low-brow style of the “Hotel Transylvania” series, “The Addams Family” is a breezier alternative with enough spontaneous bursts of pint-sized hijinks to be more treat than trick.
While it pains me to say it, I kind of think every entry in Adam Sandler’s popular Hotel Transylvania series does a better job capturing the spirit of Charles Addams than these two disagreeably forgettable misfires do.
But the jokes were too safe and cozy (the movie was far less outrageous than the “Hotel Transylvania” films), and the story was thin even for a knowing piece of cobweb camp.
The inhabitants of Hotel Transylvania (itself a pretty mediocre franchise) should be eating The Addams Family’s dust but, woefully, it is quite the reverse.
You have Bill Hader as Cyrus Strange who is a decent villain but it all feels like the same movie we just saw in Hotel Transylvania with Drac and Mavis or even Tim and Tabitha in the most recent The B oss Baby 2 .
The story begins in 1895 (two years before Bram Stoker published Dracula), with the good Count (voiced in his best Bela Lugosi-meets-Zohan impersonation by Adam Sandler) deciding to construct the titular hotel as a refuge for monsters to get away from all the pitchfork- and torch-wielding humans who would like to do them in.
Indeed, there's more honest, eye-watering emotional truths in James Whale's Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein than anything here.
But the way it’s handled isn’t nearly as funny or as adult-oriented as, say, Steve Martin’s “Father of the Bride.”
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Directed by Henry Selick
influenced Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Themes
And long before “Twilight” and its ilk, Tim Burton made the ghoulish seem normal with “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
No, film-killing bad is that the best that Lord knows how many credited and uncredited writers over the course of the film's lengthy, painful development could come up with for this monster hotel was to serve as the setting for yet another retelling of Romeo and Juliet.
Director Genndy Tartakovsky, a veteran of animated TV shows Star Wars: Clone Wars and The Powerpuff Girls, is tasked with bringing these disparate characters together, something that stumped the makers of 2004 misfire Van Helsing.
I like to imagine a nearly-plotless conflation of monsters-being-monsters scenes, in the Grand Hotel mode, with Dracula drifting from place to place being the consummate host.
Combining the age-old family movie concept of a kid wanting to see the world with the recent onslaught of stories about the softer side of villains (“Megamind,” “Despicable Me”), “Hotel Transylvania” is undead on arrival.
Earwig and the Witch (2021)
Directed by Goro Miyazaki
influenced by Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Visuals
Unfortunately, despite the occasional lively visual touches, and a playfully out-of-character '70s prog rock score by Satoshi Takebe, the ghoulish display too often conjures up a standard-issue Hotel Transylvania rather than an inspired Coraline .
But despite the overwrought physical comedy and cartoony character design that shares DNA with “Hotel Transylvania,” it’s hard to tell whom the intended audience is — especially with references to “Deliverance” and tardigrades.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
influenced Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Themes
If you fell asleep after a double feature of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “The Village,” you might dream this up.
For many entertainment fans, Genndy Tartakovsky is best known for his work directing the hand-drawn Star Wars animated spin-off series, Clone Wars (but not the CGI follow-up The Clone Wars).