Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformation (2022)

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformation (2022)

 

3/10

 

Starring the voices of:

Andy Samberg

Selena Gomez

Kathryn Hahn  

Directed by Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska

 

This animation was such a mess that Sony decided to sell it off to Amazon rather than risk spending more money promoting and distributing it in cinemas. It was a poor attempt to entertain, and I’m sad that Genndy Tartakovsky failed with this latest entry in the franchise. While Genndy didn’t direct this one like the previous movies, he did write the story and work on the screenplay. Even Adam Sandler didn’t return to voice Drac; instead, Brian Hull took over the role.

The third movie in this Sony animated franchise was already a bust for me. Even the now-popular dance sequence at the end couldn’t make up for the mess that movie delivered. Like the third movie, the animation quality here was subpar, and the whole thing felt like a blatant money grab without a story worth watching.

We start off with the 125th anniversary of the hotel. Johnny was being his usual annoying self, and Drac was losing his patience. Drac had planned to retire and hand the hotel over to Mavis and Johnny but wasn’t ready to let Johnny take charge of anything. When the news leaked, Mavis and Johnny found out, forcing Drac to change his mind. He lied to Johnny, saying it was because Johnny was human.

Johnny, determined to prove himself, turned to Van Helsing to help him become a monster. When Drac found out, he tried to reverse it but only made things worse. What followed was one of the least entertaining chase sequences and some of the most uninspired animated moments I’ve seen. After overusing the monster transformation equipment, it broke down completely. Helsing informed them that they’d have to travel to South America to get a new crystal to fix everything before Mavis discovered what was going on.

This led to a long, boring, and predictable journey to South America, which focused on Drac and Johnny bonding in the most annoying way possible.

Looking back at the franchise, the first movie lacked suspense and didn’t meet expectations. The second movie, however, was a huge improvement. It introduced Johnny and Mavis’s child, Dennis, and the storyline about his vampire genes kicking in through his love for the little werewolf girl added charm. Plus, the addition of Vlad, voiced by Mel Brooks, made it even more entertaining.

The third movie, though, felt overcrowded with too many characters. This latest installment tried to fix that by narrowing the focus to Drac and Johnny, sidelining most of the original cast. Unfortunately, like the first movie, the story here was weak, and the screenplay failed to deliver any meaningful entertainment.