Hotel Transylvania 4-Movie Collection DVD Review

 

• Director ‏ : ‎ Genndy Tartakovsky, Derek Drymon, Jennifer Kluska
• Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Studio ‏ : ‎ SONY
• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.85:1
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 4
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Digital_copy, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 6 hours and 5 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ August 15, 2023

 

         In an animated franchise you might naturally expect to come from Universal’s animated division rather than Sony Pictures Animation, Hotel Transylvania is built on the iconic cinematic horror monsters of the past. Much of the humor in the films comes from playing with the tropes associated with each of these classic movie monsters, headed up by the hotel-owning Dracula. Aside from the premise of a hotel that gives reason for all of the horror monsters to congregate in the same location, the Hotel Transylvania films have also been a clever reversal of themes involving the acceptance of someone different. In a film full of monsters, it is the humans who are often the different ones in need of being accepted into the world of monsters.

 

        The first film, Hotel Transylvania (2012), introduced this idea when Dracula (Adam Sandler) is informed by his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) that she is in love with a goofy human named Johnny (Andy Samberg) after he accidentally stumbles into the remote hotel resort for monsters. The monsters are initially shocked by this intrusion, having been treated poorly by humans in the past. Johnny’s relationship with Mavis allows each group to reconsider what they know about each other.

 

Hotel Transylvania also introduces characters parodying classic horror monsters. Fittingly, Dracula’s best friends are Frankenstein (Kevin James), a Wolf Man named Wayne (Steve Buscemi), Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade) and a mummy named Murray (CeeLo Green). Although Dracula is a single father, many of the monsters are also paired up with romantic partners, including Frankenstein’s wife, Eunice (Fran Drescher), and Wayne’s wife, Wanda (Molly Shannon).

 

Hotel Transylvania 2 continues the previously established themes with the addition of new characters. Although Johnny has been accepted by most in the community of monsters, Dracula is disappointed by his and Mavis’ plans to move to California with his grandson. He is also concerned by the young half-monster’s missing abilities, and he sets out to try to teach his grandson how to be a vampire. This is complicated even further by the arrival of Dracula’s father, Vlad (Mel Brooks).

 

In one of the weaker installments, Hotel Transylvania 3 takes the monster gang out of the hotel entirely, having them on a monster cruise for vacation instead. Johnny continues to have a troubled relationship with Dracula, though this film also introduces a romantic love interest for the hotel owner. After admonishing his daughter for dating a human, not only does Dracula follow the same romantic path, but he falls in love with the great-granddaughter of monster hunter Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), Ericka (Kathryn Hahn).

 

The final film in the franchise and collection is the direct-to-streaming sequel, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022). Although several of the voice cast members have been replaced, including Adam Sandler in the lead role, the themes and relationships still carry over from previous films. When Dracula tells Johnny only monsters can run the hotel, his human son-in-law takes extreme measures to make this happen. After Johnny uses a transforming contraption to turn himself into a monster, it is accidentally used on Dracula and his friends, who are turned into humans. As they seek out the cure to reverse this, Johnny and Dracula must finally resolve the differences they have had since the first film in the franchise.

 

Each of the films are included on separate discs in the set, though they are stacked on top of each other which makes scratches likely and finding the desired disc somewhat inconvenient. Because the discs for the first three films are taken from previous releases, there are some special features on each. Additionally, the newly released Transformania comes with plenty of additional extras, including three short films, several music videos, a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, and a filmmaker commentary track.

 

Entertainment Value: 7/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 6/10

Historical Significance:  5/10

Special Features: 7/10