"Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania" Review

 

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania. The third time may be the charm but apparently the 4th didn't warrant a theatrical release. Even franchise headliner Adam Sandler skipped out on this one.

All right, let's get into this. If the title wasn't enough of a tipoff, the -- three WRITERS?? -- for a cartoon vampire movie?? Anyway, the writers used the stale device of characters switching places. Picture an animated monster version of Freaky Friday. 

After a comic but not actually funny misunderstanding, Drac's (Dracula) reluctance to gift the titular hotel to his daughter, Mavis -- because she's sure to share ownership with her husband, Johnny -- upon his impending retirement causes Johnny (Dracula's son-in-law) to volunteer to be transformed into a monster via Abraham van Helsing's experimental transformation ray. And after a bunch of BS with the ray, Drac, Frankenstein, Wayne, Griffin, Murray and Globby are all turned into humans -- though Frank's reaction to his metamorphosis into a diesel human is legitimately funny. While nearly everyone else hates their respective makeovers, Frank's new look goes to his head, turning him into a stuck-up egomaniac. Johnny, in turn, loves his monster form -- some sort of ridiculous-looking dragon? -- but an unfortunate side-effect of the procedure is that he's destined to eventually devolve into a mindless beast. He would've known about said side-effect if he hadn't insisted on undergoing the process immediately after watching a literal guinea pig go through the 1st stage of the transformation. 

Desperate to regain his vampirism -- AND Johnny's humanity -- before Mavis sees either of them, Drac leads the duo down to South America to retrieve a special crystal -- which powers the device -- located deep in the jungle. The original gem was damaged by -- shenanigans. Of course it was. Anyway, you might expect Drac and his son-in-law to bond during their international road-trip together. But no. For most of the expedition their relationship dynamic remains unchanged. Johnny's eager to get into his father-in-law's good graces and Drac barely tolerates Johnny.

But -- back in Transylvania, somebody blabs about Drac and Johnny's predicament, so Frank and the gang -- and their respective wives -- head down to the jungle as well. Of course, the two groups eventually meet up and after -- hijinks -- nearly all of them die getting their hands on the crystal. Right before Johnny tries to kill him -- he's little more than a mindless predator with latent hostility surfacing at this point -- Drac has an epiphany about Johnny's value as a person and lets him know that he sees him in a totally new light. 

Everyone's changed back, they return home and -- discover that the guinea pig monster -- Gigi -- has destroyed the hotel. 

But....after a 10(?) second bout of depression, Drac assures Mavis AND Johnny that it can be rebuilt -- any way they see fit and passes his prized possession on to the happy couple. THE END.

Hotel Transylvania 4 may not blow you -- or the kids -- away. But then again, if you like sunburn jokes or gags about naked invisible men, maybe it will. And it is better than the Addams Family animated movies.