Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania Movie Review

Today we are talking about Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania. For those who are looking for a movie for their kids and family to watch this weekend.

Today we’re talking about a brand new entry in the Hotel Transylvania, France franchise that drops on Amazon Prime on January 14. Is this a movie worth watching? Let’s get into it.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Review

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania ( Hotel Transylvania 4) is a 2022 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Amazon Studios. 

Here’s our plot for this fourth entry. 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, and before they drive each other crazy.

With help from Mavis and the hilariously human Drac Pack, the heat is on to find a way to switch themselves back before their transformations become permanent.

And that was kind of my big hesitation going into this movie. I said, okay, it’s the fourth entry. We’ll talk about the other three in just a second.

But how are they going to rejuvenate this, make it feel like this entry is warranted, and keep it appealing to that audience? It’s been a great franchise thus far for families.

Now, how do I feel about the other three films? I think each of them are fun in their own way. I know the third one got a bit of backlash, but all three of them for me are so consistent in the level of humor and animation, which I’m actually a really big fan of.

I love Tartakovsky’s style. And I understand he didn’t come back to direct this film even though he was heavily involved with the story and coming up with the script and you can see and you can tell.

Now my biggest flaw with this film is kind of feeling the lack of a Tartakovsky when it comes to the direction at times it felt maybe more flat than the other three movies.

And the story itself, even though he was involved with it, is not quite as impressive as maybe it should have been. The concept is great.

The idea of the humans turning into monsters, the monsters turning into humans. This creates for a lot of body humor and that classic slapsticky, Three Stooges, or even Looney Tunes type of humor that kids just don’t get very often nowadays.

So seeing that return into this franchise as a whole and continue on and maybe even more so in this movie, I think it has more slapsticky type humor, less juvenile as it is in the other three.

Much more of a film appealing to kids as opposed to a film appealing to both parents and kids.

I still think parents can have some fun with it, absolutely. But it’s much more so that sense of humor. So there may be some who watch this and they’re kind of rolling their eyes.

Okay, I’ve seen this film a thousand times and you have with the exact same themes, kind of the same emotional way.

But these characters, I believe, have stamped themselves so firmly into pop culture that even with the lack of I don’t want to use the word creativity. But as creative as the other two movies, you’ll still be able to have fun with it and appreciate it because of the characters and their voice cast.

And I believe the big question going into this movie was, is Brian Hall going to be able to replace Adam Sandler because Adam Sandler did not return for this film.

Everybody else is here. Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, David Spade, the whole cast and crew, they’re great as these characters.

But is it going to work? And I’m here to tell you it does. And that’s not just me giving Brian props because he is a YouTuber. No, no.

He is as talented as anyone in the industry. I truly believe that. And the fact that he can go in and almost not 100% but almost seamlessly replace Adam Sandler, but also give it his own style.

And when we hit those emotional scenes with Dracula, especially between he and his son in law, I loved it. I really loved it.

And I appreciate it so much. What he was able to bring to this character and this franchise and just the injection of life that the entire voice cast has.

And in that way, the animation, while maybe not as creative as the first three films, a couple of things lacking for me, the animation is still great.

The movements of the characters, Dracula walking around on his fingertips and just kind of sliding through people when Jonathan is transforming into this monster and when we see him at the end kind of causing a little bit of chaos there, that animation was so much fun.

Now, the journey to get to that point, right? They’re going on this journey to find themselves away from the hotel, to accept who they are. And the idea of acceptance is a theme that we’ve seen countless times in animated films.

And it doesn’t really do anything with it, but it’s cute enough. And that journey in particular, part of me was really missing that hotel setting and I wasn’t finding the plot itself as engaging. It’s almost like they didn’t really know where to go or what to do with it.

Now when we get to the end and we get those emotional moments, it’s great. But at the same time, I didn’t find the destination or even the second half of the journey as appealing as the concept as a whole.

But it’s the characters, it’s the banter, the interactions and some of those quirks and things that really keep you going. And then the message works as well. And I think, again, it’s a movie strictly for kids.

And that’s kind of where my mindset is that they’ll really appreciate that even if I wasn’t quite as engaged as I wanted to be.

This franchise is as upbeat as ever and the message is sweet but this conventional journey couldn’t quite overcome its familiarity.

I am giving Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)  a 3.5/5.

I would recommend this for kids because I think the overall vibe of maybe what they wanted in this movie stays consistent with the other films, even though it’s not quite as impactful.

Thank you so much for reading the review of Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022). See you next time.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) Trailer 

Check out the trailer of Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022).