Good Monsters

Rating: Null/10 (2 February 2013)

Hotel Transylvania (2012)
*** (out of 4)
Nice animated film about Dracula growing protective of his new daughter so he creates Hotel Transylvania in hopes that she will always stay there and never enter the "real world" with humans. This location would also be the perfect getaway for other monsters but on her 118th birthday, the daughter decides she wants to experience a new type of life and she gets her chance when a teenage boy sneaks into the hotel. It seems like most people went into this movie not expecting much but it really turned out to be pretty good and especially if you're a fan of monster movies. I think kids are really going to enjoy everything going on but there's also a lot of stuff for adults including some terrific winks to previous monster movies like BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE INVISIBLE MAN. What I liked most about this film were all the monsters because there's so much imagination going on inside the hotel. I thought the big guys like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the mummy and the various werewolves were all very fun but even the smaller characters were a blast. Just check out the brain that gets stepped on by the teenager. Another plus is that the vocal work is extremely good with Adam Sandler leading the way as Dracula but we also get nice work from Fran Drescher, Kevin James, Selena Gomex, Andy Samberg, Steve Buscemi and David Spade. The animation is top-notch throughout as the entire look of the sets are very good. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA has a few flaws along the way but for the most part it's entertaining and well worth watching.