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Hotel Transylvania

In theaters September 28, 2012

91 minutes

Not without its kid-friendly moments, Hotel Transylvania sports a stale narrative, forgettable voice acting, and sub-par animation.
The story’s been told time and again. Over-protective parent shields child from a life beyond home. A stranger comes along and flips that plan upside down. It’s a clear enough story arc, but Translyvania did’t offer enough creativity to satisfy this movie-goer, not with the gamut of similar animated films available this year.
Adam Sandler lends his voice to Count Dracula, which basically equates to a cross between goat and Zohan. At this point, all of Sandler’s impressions sound the same to me. Kevin James might as well have been doing a Jeff Garlin impression while voicing Frankenstein, which frankly, might have been a cheaper casting decision. And then there’s Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez rounding out the headline cast, both delivering bland, unmemorable performances.
The animation of Transylvania is nothing to gaga over. Character texture is perhaps the most disappointing oversight. It’s no wonder Pixar is the industry leader, the attention to detail is leaps ahead of competing studios.
The downfalls don’t outweigh the fun to be had by the target audience. Transylvania is extremely kid friendly. My son enjoyed the fair amount of physical humor and fart jokes. Having the likes of Sandler and Samberg on-board shouldn’t dissuade movie-goers, their normal offensiveness is non-existent here. For parents, there are the usual inside jokes to keep you half-interested, but overall, you might start checking your watch about an hour in.
There are better animated films out there that warrant your attention. Hotel Transylvania doesn’t offer enough originality to earn a recommendation here. Skip it and hold out for our review of Tim Burton’s, Frankenweenie.

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Movie Reelist Contributor: Chris Giroux
Chris Giroux is founder and editor-in-charge at Movie Reelist, an entertainment news and review blog serving the most fanatic moviegoers. Chris started his publication in Detroit in 2010 and has since reviewed hundreds of films and interviewed numerous talent across the country. He is an avid film festival attendee and red carpet photographer, having shot the likes of Steven Spielberg, Bill Murray, Mark Hamill, and more. Chris grew up in New Mexico, where he studied mass media writing while working in post-production and multimedia authoring. It is also where he discovered Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York, resulting in an unhealthy Kurt Russell obsession.

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