Hotel Transylvania Review - Frightfully Frivolous But Fairly Fun

Hotel Transylvania, the latest animated feature film from Sony Pictures Animation (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Smurfs), has received a lukewarm response from critics, but a very enthusiastic one from fans; so I walked into the cinema on Wednesday not quite knowing what to expect. I walked out none the wiser: simultaneously, impressed and underwhelmed. But the main vibe I got from Hotel Transylvania was fun, and it's a film that's not ashamed to wear its relative one-dimensionality on its vampiric sleeve.

Hotel Transylvania Takes a Vampire-Sized Bite out of the Weekend Box-Office

The critics may not be loving it, but US audiences clearly are; Sony Pictures Animation's Genndy Tartakovsky-directed Hotel Transylvania has done the studio proud on its tenth anniversary, opening to an astonishing (estimated) $43 million!

The studio's seventh film (including two Aardman releases, Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! in an Adventures with Scientists) sits at a lukewarm 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, but has raked in over a million dollars for every one of those percent at the US box office, placing it in the number 1 spot this weekend. Hotel T is the studio's strongest opener (far surpassing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' previous record of $30.3 million), and, if it proves to have reasonable legs, it could be the studio's highest grossing film yet! The film has also raked in $8.1 million from foreign territories.

Second place this weekend goes to another Sony pic, Rian Johnson's acclaimed sci-fi actioner, Looper, with $21.2 million (again, estimated). Looper boasts a cast including Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt, while Hotel T has the more youth-friendly line-up of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez.

In spite of the negative reviews, it seems audiences are really taking to Sony's monster-flick (of course, the timing isn't bad either, with Halloween just around the corner). Speaking from an outside perspective, having not seen the film yet (it doesn't open here until 12th October), I think what's resonating with audiences is exactly what's putting critics off: it doesn't take itself too seriously. Hotel T looks like fun for the sake of fun, with not too much focus on emotional twists - the 'Art of' book stated that they repeatedly chose to forego solemn moments in favour of comedy. Jerry Beck says it best, that Hotel T is a "full “cartoon” feature"; just look how perfectly poised and considered the animation is! Genndy Tartakovsky's stylised cartoon style is here in abundance!

Seen Hotel Transylvania? What did you think? Let us know below!

Stats via Box Office Mojo.

Hotel Transylvania Spoofs Carly Rae Jepsen

It's a bizarre marketing strategy, but Sony Pictures Animation have released a parody of Carly Rae Jepsen's (surely the most spell-check unfriendly name ever) smash-hit song "Call Me Maybe", to help promote their latest animated film, Hotel Transylvania.

The parody is called "Call Me Mavy", and is sung by Traci L., focusing on Dracula's (Adam Sandler) daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), and her relationship with the only human to ever visit the monster's getaway of Hotel Transylvania, Jonathan (Andy Samberg). Whilst I'm not really a fan of the advertising for Hotel Transylvania (it looks awfully goofy), I must admit, the video is rather funny...

Bad advertising, also, is nothing new for Sony's animated films. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs looked pretty dreadful going in, but actually turned out to be a very fun film - one of the best animated films of 2009! I'm also quite taken with the latest Hotel T trailer, and the fact that Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Dexter's Lab) is directing reassures me somewhat.

Check out "Call Me Mavy" above! Hotel Transylvania, also featuring the voices of Kevin James, Steve Buscemi and Cee Lo Green, flies into US cinemas on 28th September, and slightly closer to the more apt Halloween season, on 12th October - although it'll face tough competition from Disney's similarly themed Frankenweenie.

Hotel Transylvania Trailer 2

The second trailer (above) for Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania arrived online yesterday. Much better than the teaser we saw a while back, this newest trailer (courtesy of Yahoo! Movies) shows a lot more of everything: more heart, more story, more character. Also, the animation is very stylish and striking and looks to make Hotel Transylvania a visually exciting film.

Admittedly, I'm still not head-over-heels excited about it, but Hotel Transylvania looks promising, and Sony may be on to another surprise hit, à la Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs here.


Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack), Hotel Transylvania, stars the voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez and Kevin James and is due out on 28th September in the US and 12th October here in the UK.

First Hotel Transylvania Trailer - In English This Time

On Sunday, we posted our first footage from Sony Pictures Animation's Genndy Tartakovsky directed feature film, Hotel Transylvania... in Russian. Whilst I wasn't blown away by it (largely due to the fact that... it was in Russian), the animation was impressive and the artistic style of the film looked hopeful.

Now the trailer has been released in English, and I'm still not overly impressed. Admittedly, it's a bit funnier and it still looks like it has potential, but I shan't be too optimistic until we see something of more substance. However, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs didn't look too great in trailers either, and that was brilliant, and a huge winner for Sony - fingers crossed for a repeat performance.

First Trailer for Hotel Transylvania

I generally tend not to post foreign language trailers, because - quite frankly - I have no idea what they're saying. However, our first look at footage from Sony Pictures Animation's next feature film, Hotel Transylvania, comes in the form of a Russian trailer.

At this stage, it doesn't look that astounding, but the Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack) directed film, starring Adam Sandler, does seem to be very well animated, enthused with a certain energy, and seems pretty funny. Although we'll have to reserve judgement until 12th October (here in the UK, 28th September in the US), or at least until we see an English trailer.

Watch the trailer at WorstPreviews.com.

Via Cartoon Brew.

First Look at Hotel Transylvania

USA Today have provided us with our first look at Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania. The tale of the Dracula (Adam Sandler) run hotel - a home away from home for monsters - and his relationship with his daughter (Selena Gomez), has been plagued by production problems, before finding its latest director Genndy Tartakovsky (the creator of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack).

The USA Today article provides us with the two images you can see here (showing the film's distinct visual style and showcasing its vast cast of characters) as well as some words from the film's director about the film and its voice cast - including Sandler, his comedy partner Kevin James, and Steve Buscemi. After all of the trouble surrounding the film, it would be easy to write it off, however these images give me some hope and Sony Pictures Animation have a fairly strong track record.

Head on over to USA Today to read the full article.  Hotel Transylvania is due for release on 28th September in the US, and 12th October here in the UK.

Via Cartoon Brew.