Hotel Transylvania Review
To most animators, the name Genndy Tartakovsky makes you reminisce about the hours spent watching Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack.
So hearing that Genndy had been asked to direct Sony Imageworks newest film ‘Hotel Transylvania’ had a lot of animators intrigued.
The film centres around Adam Sandler’s character ‘Dracula’, the owner of ‘Hotel Transylvania’, as a safe and luxurious retreat for all monsters to escape the shadows and vengeance of the terrifying beings that are us humans.
As well as being a fortress of solitude for monsters of all shapes and sizes (and believe me, you will see a lot of shapes and sizes) the hotel helps Dracula, an extremely over protective father, protect the thing most precious to him: his daughter, Mavis.
Mavis, voiced by Selena Gomez, is an independent vampire wanting to see every inch of the world she has never been allowed to venture into. The story is centred around Mavis about to celebrate her 118th birthday. Dracula is aware that Mavis is getting anxious to leave the nest, so he invites all of their friends and family to the hotel for one massive party to remind Mavis of how much fun she has at the hotel.
Everything is going according to Dracula’s plan until a curious backpacking human (voiced by Andy Samberg, one of the people behind the Lonely Island band and who recently starred alongside Adam Sandler in ‘That’s my Boy’) stumbles upon the hotel.
Dracula is determined to remain in control of the situation, not wanting to cause mass hysteria by allowing everyone to discover an ‘evil’ human in the hotel and also trying to organise a party for his daughter.
The film’s story is surprisingly simplistic. It concentrates mostly on Dracula’s neurotic nature , his over bearing parenting and learning to deal with change, more than a complex story line centred around a villain vs. the hero type of plot. It is quite a refreshing story as it doesn’t throw massive dramatic battle sequences into the equation. This doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of action; it just allows the characters to drive the story instead of the plot being over complicated. The actions that the animators have put into the characters make even the most docile scene seem entertaining.
Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg recorded their dialogue together for a lot of the film and this definitely comes across. They play off each other very well, making the film extremely witty and well executed. You may leave feeling you’ve viewed the creation of a ‘bromance’.
As well as Dracula there is a whole host of characters in the film. The main group of the story is Frankenstein (Kevin James), Murray the Mummy (Cee Lo Green), Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi) and Griffin the invisible man (David Spade). A nice addition to this film is the feeling all of these characters are middle aged; they have been made wary of the world and also grown up a lot from the traditional horror stories. Wayne the tired father of an ever growing troop of Werewolves is the perfect example of this.
The animation in this film is second to none. It is one you will want to step through frame by frame just to see what you’ve missed. The rigs themselves will have animators drooling. From the range of face shapes to the pure flexibility of these characters. You will definitely be hoping Genndy’s technical team will release these at some stage (well, an animator can dream)
The shapes and expressions created in this film are so individual and effective that each background character has an instant personality. Even if a character appears for a few seconds, you can tell from their actions what to expect. There are a lot of characters in the background of this busy hotel but by creating completely different personalities for everyone you will be enthralled by what you see. This definitely doesn’t feel like an ‘animation stock library’ kind of film.
Genndy is famous for his design work and he does not disappoint in the film. Every inch of this film screams his name. From the interesting silhouettes to the use of shapes and curves. Human characters seem to bring problems to CG films but this film has definitely nailed the design. The trade mark eyes of all the characters alone help the film to have a look and feel of its own.
Genndy’s 2D background has allowed him to expect no less from a CG character than he would from his pen and pencil. This must have been a nightmare for the technical department on this feature but definitely a plus for a geeky audience. Michelle Murdocca, the producer of the film, says of Genndy’s directions:
‘When we do an animation review, Genndy will sit down and he has tablet and we will be looking at the 3D animation, he’ll actually draw over on the tablet – he creates poses that will become guidelines for the animators to hit’
This is definitely evident in the animation and no in-between frame is wasted in this film.
‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ was another Sony film that pushed the boundary for animation and took on an extremely 2D style, so this film steps it up visually with Genndy at the helm. You will leave feeling you have been viewing a 2D film.
A criticism that has become frequently mentioned when people talk about modern day animated CG is voice casting. Although this film has chosen good people for the characters, Genndy’s animators have created such big performances that the voices sometimes don’t meet the challenge. Dexter’s Laboratory had such fantastic voice actors such as Christine Cavanaugh and Kat Cressida and it’s almost a shame to see the animated voice actor disappearing in favour of big names. As mentioned previously, the acting the characters give is well done but with such characteristically strong characters you sometimes want a voice that can keep up with the energy of the performance.
You will cringe at the start of the story as a song begins but hold back early anger as the film uses the songs well and doesn’t start throwing them into every scene. You are of course expecting songs when the voice cast includes Cee Lo Green and Selena Gomez but it isn’t a film driven by song. Of course it goes without saying that you will get a closing dance number as is the norm for a lot of cg films out there at the moment but this film pulls it off. With music being written by Andy Samberg who applies the same humour he adds to his Lonely Island songs, you are in for a nice closing treat. (Andy Samberg actually co-wrote the closing number ‘sweet 118’ while in his office at ‘Saturday Night Live’ while producer Michelle Murdocca listened on the phone)
Unfortunately, this films biggest hurdle is timing. With three, big, Halloween-esque animations in the cinemas (Paranorman and Frankinweenie) it has stiff competition. I hope it isn’t over looked in the box office but it might by pass the crowds until its DVD release.
This film is one for the kids and the animators but unfortunately might be missed by the general public. Hopefully it will get a good viewing and, if you do miss it in cinemas, I’d say it’s worth a watch on DVD or Blu-Ray, even if it’s only to watch the ‘making of’ as I’m sure it will be full of interesting tid-bits.
There is a feeling that this film has been made with artists in mind. The 3d is subtle and doesn’t over power the action, the backgrounds are extremely intricate in design while still being simple enough to not over power the fast paced animation and most of all the nice touch of using the art work and concept working backgrounds as a backdrop to the credits will keep you in your seats. After all, who apart from the animators actually sit through the credits?
This film is a great step in the right direction for Genndy’s CG work and makes me excited to see what he will do in the future with his upcoming films such as Popeye. If you visually enjoyed ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs’ or any of Genndy’s earlier work such as ‘Star Wars: Clone Wars’ or of course the amazing ‘Samurai Jack’ then get yourself down to the cinemas.
At the very least you will leave this film hoping that a 2D cartoon series of ‘Hotel Transylvania’ is on its way.