User reviews

Cute movie. Has a couple of great messages -- especially one about prejudices. There are some adult jokes, some childish jokes, lots of laugh out loud moments but most importantly the following messages: Hatred against those we don't know is wrong; Let yourself get to know a person before deciding whether they are good or not; and go along for the ride and let yourself enjoy life.

I also love the fact that this is a Dad raising his child situation. There are really few movies that show a Dad can step up and do the right thing for their children if given the chance.

While I didn't particularly care for the fart joke or some of the childish parts the kids in the theater laughed and laughed.

Well done!

After reading reviews that either disliked or were indifferent to Hotel Transylvania and being dubious because Adam Sandler(who has been in a lot of really bad movies recently) was in the lead role, I was unsure of whether to see the film. But my love for animation and the appetising trailer over-rode my doubts and I saw it anyway. And you know what, while The Pirates and ParaNorman were better animated movies from this year in my opinion I found Hotel Transylvania much better than expected. More could have been done with the relationship between Jonathan and Mavis, it is a romantic angle that has been used many times before and as well as feeling somewhat under-baked very little new was done with it. While a vast majority of the film is fast-paced with no real dull spots, some parts of the film did feel rushed. On the other point of view, the animation is excellent, the backgrounds are both beautiful and Gothic and that is the same with the colours. The characters are well-modelled. The soundtrack is catchy and upbeat, though some of the songs could have been more than just snippets. The writing is zany and often witty with a surprising amount of heart also.

The story is predictable, but not dull. It has a number of great moments, the genre references are not as inspired as they were in ParaNorman but they are fun to spot, and I loved a lot of the slapstick-in-style gags. Especially the zombie Beethoven, the scream cheese Hors-D'Oeuvres, the shrunken heads do not disturb tags and the digs at Twilight(much more fulfilling than any of the movies combined). But it does have a lot of heart. Is the over-protective father idea clichéd? Of course. But I did find it genuinely touching instead of overly-exaggerated as I have seen described. Dracula's past is also shown in a darkly emotional way. The characters are not the most memorable I have ever seen, but they do have their likability, my favourite here was Dracula. And the voice acting was surprisingly great, to me from a non-fan who has liked him in some movies(Punch Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, Spanglish and Happy Gilmore) and hated him in others(Jack and Jill, Going Overboard, Zookeeper and Mr Deeds) Adam Sandler gives one of his better performances of late in the role of Dracula, he is actually funny as well as emotive in alternative to irritating. Selena Gomez is endearing as daughter Mavis and Adam Samberg brings some heroism to Jonathan. Kevin James, David Spade, Jon Lovitz, Fran Drescher and especially Steve Buscemi give solid support. In conclusion, surprisingly good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I went into this movie really with no expectations. I had only seen a few fragments of commercials and got nothing at all interesting from them. So, WOW, was I surprised and impressed when I saw it!! The movie was a creative story, quick moving action, funny, heartwarming, visually interesting and sometimes surprising - this film had a lot of great things going on, and I found myself really engaged and far more interested in the characters than I would have guessed. Sure, there were a few "as if" moments, but for the most part I found it to be fun, funny, and a film I heartily recommend! Kudos to the writers, voice actors and animators.... With a youngster in my home, I'm sure we'll be seeing this again soon.

..took my family to see this one today, 6 year old son, 3 year old daughter..

Both of them really enjoyed the experience, though to be honest i think my daughter connected with the movie more because of the plight of Dracula's young daughter being the focal point of the story. That really surprised me!

Any horror fan with kids will get a real kick out of this one. And even non-horror fans should find the story cute. Sandler and company really pull it together for this one, after their last couple of films were less then stellar.

Definitely a pleasant surprise, and good fun for the whole family.

Hotel Transylvania stars: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James and David Spade. It goes for approximately 90 minutes. It fails to deliver GREAT 3D moments although some could be classified as 'GOOD'.

The first half of the movie is what is called 'Jokes Are Failing' Syndrome. Although they do crack in a couple of good laughs in the first half, majority don't live up to expectations that animations nowadays do. Too many slapstick moments and unnecessary forced jokes... NOTE TO FILM-MAKERS: If jokes are forced... Don't even bother with the joke!

The movie has heart though, which kind of makes for it's first half. The second half however is fun, cool, funny and surprisingly a bit thrilling! It does have it's fun moments... I will admit. Although some of the 3D doesn't work I still found it to be a good animation... Is it the best animation of the year? NO WAY! But is it great as an animation? No, not really it is what I call 'A good animation if you just let your mind do nothing!' A B from me.

When 'Hotel Transylvania' first came out, I had absolutely no intention of seeing it for two reasons: Adam Sandler and vampires. I thought a comedy about Dracula would be boring. This movie isn't that bad but at the same time isn't that funny In this movie, we have Count Dracula who has organized a building called Hotel Transylvania to keep his fellow monsters safe from the evil humans. Now, doesn't that sound familiar? From a Pixar movie? MONSTERS INC! One day, a human accidentally ventures into the monster world...Hmm...Still familiar and meets Dracula's daughter, Mavis voiced by Selena Gomez and falls in love...Still remind me of the Sully and Boo relationship as well as segments of Twilight.

I'll start off by saying that voice acting is brilliant. Adam Sandler really was great as Count Dracula, Adam Samberg was great as Johnny and Kevin James was a great Frankenstein. Selena Gomez also did a great job. The story however isn't anything special by any means. Too much of the story is from Monsters Inc but there are parts of Twilight in this movie which I love as a lot of it is indirectly mocking that god-awful series. The characters are funny but by no means any memorable. The dialogue is actually the movie's greatest strength. It really is hilarious in so many ways. There are so many one liners and Johnny's line "Wow man! Your Dracula impression is way over the top!" is simply hilarious as is the woman with the annoying voice saying to the monster in the kitchen "Your voice is annoying" If it weren't for the dialogue, this movie could so easily be horrible. The visual animations in the movie are stunning with each scene being carefully visualised and is truly a treat for the eye.

The film's main problem is its very close resemblance to Monsters Inc which makes the movie nothing unique. However, the mocking of Twilight is handled very well, the animations are superb, the characters and voice acting are done well and is well directed but a bit rushed at certain points during the film. The film could also have been a good ten minutes shorter and we wouldn't have missed anything funny or special. Overall, a good animation movie which isn't unique but funny

I gave this a complete 10 because both the wife and I (as well as the other movie-goers -going by their reactions) thoroughly enjoyed it from the beginning to the very end.

Was it predictable? Of course. Its an animation geared towards children (what would you expect?) -but like most of the animation movies of today, there were quite a few 'hidden humor' spots as well which would be completely missed by the younger audience (not unexpected since it is the adults, after all, who are forking over the bread and it doesn't hurt to keep THEM entertained as well). The movie is fairly fast-paced and the animation well done. I'm usually a little apprehensive when I've harbored good expectations from a movie based on clips/previews, but in this case I felt it truly delivered. This one will be added to our library when it (eventually) hits the shelves. Too many people look for a great amount of depth and unpredictability in animation movies -but THAT is a bit unrealistic (no pun intended) -think about it: These things USED to be called CARTOON MOVIES for a reason. They weren't intended to fit that kind of expectation. They ARE intended to be fun -and this movie is just that: FUN.

I did not know this movie was directed by Tartakovsky, which is probably why I liked it as much as I did. He is one of my favorite animation directors and he does a great job in directing this movie as well. The humor is a bit hit or miss, mostly kid-oriented but there were some creative jokes and I laughed out loud a couple times. The cast does a good job for the most part and the movie has some heart to it. Overall, a pretty pleasant surprise that could have benefited from some better writing.

I went to see Hotel Transylvania last night in a small group of adults aged 24-30 and I LMAO as did the others. The theater was packed with little children who mostly laughed at not really funny parts and adults who laughed when the children were quite silent. The story is about Count Dracule trying to raise his only child safe and sound away from terrifying humans and invites all the monsters to his hotel to relax and celebrate his very young daughter's 118th birthday which is accompanied by a surprise visitor!

This is a really funny movie with a simple predictable story line and tons of characters that you will love. My favorites were the zombies who were the hotel staff and it took them forever to finish a task. I recommend this movie to anyone who like monsters ( so afraid of a little boy licking ice-cream)and want to have a good laugh and take a break from Disney.

The, I think, is a movie that is fun for the whole family. Youngsters will like the characters, the older children will enjoy the jokes and plot, and the adults will likely enjoy the movie as well, being able to catch on to the more "adult" funny references and a story about a father-daughter relationship that can be appreciated.

The movie is fairly fast paced, but most cartoons are, especially ones that are just 91 minutes long. If you're planning to take your 3 year old to appreciate the plot, connect with the characters, and understand the meaning of family and love... that's not happening... it is a children's movie but it's not Sesame Street.

My husband and I took our 2 1/2 year old because it seemed like a cute movie to watch. It was. Our son sat through the entire movie and danced with the music, etc. We enjoyed it as well.

Was it EXTRAORDINARY? No. Was it a good, fun family film? Yes.

I would recommend it. If you're unsure about paying for a ticket at the theater, you can always wait for the DVD to come out.

The standard themes of familial acceptance, 'leaving the nest' and putting the needs of others above those of your own are told surprisingly well through suitably rubbery animation, ostensibly ham-fisted voice-work and lovably re-crafted classic characters. 'Hotel Transylvania (2012)' is generally generic but consistently pretty fun, and at times actually funny, to the point where I don't mind the fact I've essentially seen it all before. It's clearly Adam Sandler's best work for quite a bit. 6/10

Hotel Transylvania has a simple concept: classic campy monsters staying in a hotel where humans are not allowed because they think we're evil. It doesn't sound too fresh but it looks fun. Behind this concept is a father-daughter-relationship that seems to follow the footsteps of other great recent animated films. The result is, it's not getting there yet but it's still as delightful as it's suppose to be. It's one of those films that it's so crazy, you'll instantly like it. Most of the gags are clever and ridiculous. Overall, it's an endless fun entertainment.

Though, the film sometimes feels like a mediocre animated kids film. Generic family film elements are there but they are used in a different way. There is often slapstick and toilet humor but the gags are best when it's outrageously absurd. Every set pieces are swift, quirky, and exciting. The voices of the characters sound silly at glance but the actors made them pretty likable.

When the craziness slows down, there's a sweet bit of Dracula's relationship between Mavis and Jonathan, and some brooding. The drama is a little effective. It's not as strong as most recent animated films. It's more focused at being fun and hilarious. It's great when it stays to the roots of a cartoon like showing peculiar looking characters acting like lunatics. The best laughs are when the monsters are expressing their misanthropy in a ludicrously paranoid way, and when they're just making fun of each other. Mainstream pop culture song numbers kind of tone things down, but the song number at the end didn't affect the breathtaking and emotional climax.

Hotel Transylvania is good enough for the whole family even though it's raucous. Fans of the animation genre would enjoy this a lot more. Since it's directed by a cartoon expert, it contains a lot of absurd and exciting scenes that is similar to his shows. Although, some might expect something more since many animated films these days are deeper and powerful, leaving the old habits behind. Hotel Transylvania still has the heart but it's just not as compelling as the others. If you're in for the joys then this will give you a good time. My rating may be too high, but this my thing. I always enjoy this kind of animation.

I don't know if Sandler helped sink this by mere association or what. The humor is broad. The message against prejudice is as heavyhanded as in Brave, but simply blurted out to us. The computer animation is typical, nothing to see—both horror-themed stop motion films of this year trump it with ease. The horror sketchbook feel is much better captured in Frankenweenie, by a filmmaker who actually loves the stuff. ParaNorman has the fancy characters and dazzle for the kids, but offers us a richer, more visual experience on the same subject.

By contrast to those other films that show creators immersed in at least some aspect of their work, this gives the feel of a mass-marketed product—never more obvious than in the songs performed, ranging from punk rock to club music.

The logic here is something for everyone.

Every father of a daughter has wished at some point in his life to keep his little girl well protected from the world and the wrong guys in a remote castle in the middle of nowhere for 118 years. "Hotel Transylvania" is an animated feature about a father, who happens to be Dracula, voiced by Adam Sandler, who does exactly that to his daughter Mavis, voiced by Selena Gomez.

The story begins in the year 1895 where Dracula is unexpectedly forced to be a single father and raise his baby girl Mavis after a tragedy takes his wife's life. He builds a huge castle for Mavis and turns it into a hotel for monsters. His intentions is to make it a refuge for monsters (insects included) where no humans are allowed. Flash forward to the current year, it is the eve of Mavis 118th birthday. It seems to be the equivalent to a human teenager's 18th birthday. Mavis quickly reminds Dracula that his promise to her on her 118th birthday is that she would get to finally explore the world outside of the castle and even travel to a different country.

Not wanting to disappoint his little girl, he allows her to visit a small village just outside of the castle that same night. However, it turns out that the village is not real. It is made of multiple facades with Dracula's zombie workers disguised as humans who scare Mavis away by using fire and threatening to kill her.

Her curiosity of humans is put to rest by the experience. But, when she meets a mystery young male drifter named Jonathan who stumbles into the hotel claiming the identity of a party planner for her birthday who is Frankenstein's cousin – John Stein, Mavis feels a certain "zing" with him that she just can't shake. At the end, his true identity is revealed in the worst way – under the scrutiny of the hotel's monster guests as well as Mavis who is hurt by her Father's betrayal but is fascinated even more by Jonathan. However, upon Dracula's wishes Jonathan exits the hotel to continue his travels. Dracula says, "I want to kill him. But it would set monsters back hundreds of years".

"Hotel Transylvania" is a movie that parents will genuinely enjoy with their children. Though having some plot holes, such as even though Dracula stated early in the movie that he too has kept himself from the outside world away from humans for over 100 years, yet he knows what the word "nerd" means and recognizes the movie "Twilight" when he sees it. Dracula clears up a few misconceptions about vampires – MORE: http://hllywdjnkt.co/QtQNfL

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Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter.

As far as plots go, this one is pretty simple and not all that deep or clever. The characters are also not that deep. Often, this will take away from a film (or completely ruin it, like it did for "The Good Dinosaur"). But this was also a very funny movie, and that more than made up for it.

I confess that I was hesitant about it being a film coming out of the "Adam Sandler camp". It seems Sandler has more misses than hits these days, but this was clearly a hit. Funny for both adults and children, great use of characters to drive the humor home. I wasn't super-crazy about Andy Samberg's character (who sounded like Steve Zahn), but it wasn't a deal-breaker.

Everyone remembers that special movie they saw or that one that was the best for your mind, that one which really stuck. For me that movie was "Hotel Transylvania". I think it was one of the best children's movie ever made. It conveys humor, creativity, action and freedom.

Set in Transylvania in modern time, Dracula (Adam Sandler) hosts all the legendary monsters at his hotel to celebrate his daughter's one hundred and eighteenth birthday. But he works overtime to keep Mavis (Selena Gomez) from falling for a human boy named Johnny (Andy Samberg), who miraculously stumbles upon the hotel. All Mavis has ever wanted is to leave home and see the real world and see if humans are as bad as her father says they are. The main characters are Selena Gomez as Mavis, Andy Samberg as Johnny and Adam Sandler as Dracula. It is a brilliant cast for this movie.

Selena Gomez was perfect for the part of Mavis and did a great job while Andy Samberg was good but wasn't perfect for Johnny. I think he could've done a much better job. Adam Sandler was born to play the part of Dracula. He did a magnificent job and was extremely humorous. The other characters were great and they matched their roles perfectly!

I liked that we got to know the characters and what their goal was. For example Mavis wanted freedom and wanted to leave home. What I didn't like is that it was a bit confusing. For example, "Why was Johnny hiking in Transylvania at night?" or "Why didn't Mavis just turn in to a bat and fly away to see the real world?" These questions make you wonder but I still think it was a wonderful movie even for my age group.

I think the moral of the story was trust your children to make the right decisions no matter what you think about them and from the child point of view the moral was to know your parents are always just trying to protect you. And both are true and if you look at them from both sides you will get the full story. I think that this is a movie for age groups above five and below fifteen. Reason being because Dracula does a fang up where his face goes a bit creepy but other wise I'm sure parents will love it and children between the ages of five and fifteen will love it to.

I'm sure plenty of children and families adore "Hotel Transylvania," but not every animated kiddie movie is without intelligence, so I'm not going to cut it any slack. Another animated monster kids movie, Pixar's "Monster's, Inc." (2001), for instance, is kind of clever in its use of doors to multiple universes. And, although not animated, "The Monster Squad" (1987) manages to pay homage to classic monster movies and remain charming despite some childish humor. "Hotel Transylvania" features many of the same monsters as that film and more, including Dracula and his daughter, Frankenstein and his bride, werewolves, mummies, an invisible man, a gillman and Quasimodo, but they've basically nothing to do with their sources in novels or prior movies. They're more akin to the monster cereals, such as Count Chocula and Frenken Berry--mere caricatures, overly sweet and not very good for you.

In "Hotel Transylvania," Dracula has clipped the wings, so to speak, of his bat daughter, but he must learn to allow her to fly the coop. He also runs a hotel for monsters. The Dracula of "Nocturna" (1979) did the same thing, the film also had plenty of music like this one (except it was disco), and Dracula's daughter fell in love with a human. The similarities stop there, though, since "Nocturna" also had gratuitous nudity and an old Dracula complaining about how his reproductive organs don't work as well anymore (although, here, the Invisible Man defends the size of his in one pool-side gag). "Hotel Transylvania," on the other hand, has Count-less butt jokes, including a fart that's let on fire. I'm not sure which is worse, but I know fire is bad.

There's a joke at the expense of the "Twilight" series, where Dracula sardonically remarks, "This is how we're represented." Right back at you, Count Chocula; "Hotel Transylvania" isn't fang-tastic, either. Nor had I ever heard Dracula say "blah blah blah," and I've seen well over 50 Dracula movies since reading Bram Stoker's novel. Perhaps, the worst caricature of all, though, is Quasimodo as the hotel chef. Why is he a chef? Because he's French, I guess. That's racist. Anyways, the movie wraps up like a bad rom-com but replaces the father for the girl or boy chasing down the other for a grand romantic gesture. It's kind of like "The Wedding Singer" (1998) and with the same actor.

Another quibble I have with this movie is that when they list off Dracula's vulnerabilities--sunlight, garlic, stakes to the heart--they don't mention crosses. I get that they threw out all of the sex and violence from Dracula--even though that was most of Stoker's book--it's a kid's movie, after all. But the religion? I think that was a shrewd commercial move to avoid offending any audience, except for maybe cranky old Dracula buffs like me. But, they've made millions of dollars off this franchise and, as of this writing, about to release the third movie installment, so they know what they're doing. I don't have to like it, though.

(Mirror Note: No mirror shots in this Dracula movie, either.)

Rating-6/10

Hotel Transylvania is an animated movie that has laughs, a nice style and some good people involved in the voice cast. Now the film is only OK and really isn't good or more nevertheless it is fun and should entertain the majority who view it. There are many good jokes and although a lot are physical jokes, it plays well and some really can get you going with stomach hurting laughter.

I felt it was written well and is the basis of the funny business in all fairness, and although not being the tightest of scripts, still the jokes come across thick and fast. As I said before the film has a lot of laughs but the writing does lack depth and although will please in my opinion, it won't be a totally memorable experience, especially for parents maybe watching with kids.

Another thing that maybe the script does or that the director does it give the film very little heart, maybe even none at all. It isn't sweet and even at times it can try,but it still falls flat on it's face. The problem they have in that area does hinder it quite a bit and also a massive reason this won't be remembered as much as other animated films, and although still OK on my account, no more than that.

The voice cast as I mentioned are good and Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez and others are well cast with humour flowing through there voice pretty well. I have to say after a little while you do start to forget who the cast actually are with people such as Sandler becoming a forgetful after thought which helps in the humour as you actually laugh at him. I also liked the voice of Steve Buscemi who voices Wayne the werewolf and he is very funny and the basis of many funny moments.

The animated style is nice, it isn't quite what I would call the top notch kind of animation but it is still really quite nice. I found the movement is well done and although the movie is very very fast and characters kind of hit the wall, literally, it still looks very nice. I also really loved the sets involved and yet again they look very nicely done, I think with the addition of director Genndy Tartakovsky who himself is also an animator, you get a good team to sort out the way it looks.

I think with this movie anyone can watch it, not only the kids but also the adults and even though I have seen some people say this strictly for kids, I don't believe they are right and it fine enough for anyone. Don't expect it to be unfunny seriously, I went in thinking maybe this will be very poor but in truth as I have said it is OK, so lets move on to my conclusion.

So overall the length of the movie is good at a steady time of 91 minutes, it fits in everything it needs too and doesn't over do it either. I think also overall, as I have mentioned a million times already, it is funny, and funny enough to be OK and well worth a watch from anyone who really wants to see a good animation with a nice style and quite a few good laughs too.