Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Movie Review

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

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Written by: Michael McCullers & Genndy Tartakovsky (written by), Todd Durham (based on characters created by)
Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Jim Gaffigan, Chrissy Teigen, Joe Jonas
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer

Plot
While on a vacation with his family, Count Dracula makes a romantic connection with a woman hiding a big secret.

Verdict
There's a noticeable decline from the first through the third movie. Each successive movie is less inventive. This one couldn't even manage to keep me entertained, and it squandered a fair amount of potential. It lacks creativity and ambition. Kids might like it, but it's easily the worst of the three Hotel Transylvania movies. The plot is tired, and doesn't even try to leverage the horror genre which acted as a spring board to comment on the plots of the previous movies.
Skip it.

Review
The first Hotel Transylvania (read my review) was a fun juxtaposition of horror/vampire tropes and an overprotective father.

The second (read my reviewed) movie relied on common tropes, coasting on the success of the first. It just wasn't as engaging. It's fun for kids, but the first movie succeeded at engaging adults and children.

The third movie does even less, relying on gags and vivid images. While the movie looks nice, the plot drops the ball. We get famed monster hunter Van Helsing who has become a monster himself at this point as he's part steam-punk robot. I hoped the movie would delve into that, but it never does. He's the scariest thing in this movie. I assumed that would be the common ground when Van Helsing's granddaughter falls for Drac. Instead Drac wins her over through sheer kindness. That's nice enough, but it just feels hollow.

The plot is mindless. While love will overcome is a nice idea, it's such an easy out. This never tries to be inventive of even all that exciting. While I like the cruise ship departing from the Bermuda Triangle and the depiction of Atlantis, it's just a cool visual. The execution is lacking, but that's the complaint I have for this movie. It knows it can coast on the previous movies and embraces that completely. It never explores being a parent or a kid in a horror setting. Drac's daughter has to reconcile her feelings when her father becomes infatuated. That entire plot line just felt tired.

The jokes are similar to the previous movie, but they missed more than they hit this time around. The setting just doesn't have the same appeal as the other movies, though they had to change the setting after two outings at the hotel. Even the secondary characters weren't as good. While I don't know if the jokes are lesser or if they've just been mined before in the previous movies, I tend to think it's complacency.