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 Long
ago in a distant land, he, Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of cartoons,
changed the face of television animation with a groundbreaking moveable
work of art called Samurai Jack. The adventures of a noble Samurai
zapped through time by the evil wizard, Aku, who Jack must defeat to
find his way back to the past won Emmys and the adoration of animation
fans everywhere. Its unique artwork, minimal dialogue, offhand humour,
entertaining pop culture references and incredible score were like
nothing that had been seen before. Tartakovsky also directed and
produced popular cartoons like 2 Stupid Dogs, Dexter’s Laboratory and
The Powerpuff Girls and won more Emmys for his fan-beloved Star Wars:
Clone Wars miniseries. With all this good stuff behind him, what could
be expected of Tartakovsky’s feature film debut, Hotel Transylvania?
It’s
hard out here for a Dracula. Despite the passage of centuries, the
world still hasn’t exactly embraced its local bloodsucker and the
vampire still requires the safety and solitude of his own castle to
protect himself and his own. Why can’t humans understand that like
anyone else, the Count is a loving, caring parent who only wants the
best for his child, in this case, a lovely teenager named Mavis. Not
taking any chances, the vampire has made a fortress of his palatial
estate, employing all sorts of magical anti-human wards to keep people
out. However, having this gigantic home just to himself and his baby
girl seems a bit selfish to His Royal Undeadness, so the social
batterfly opens the castle as a hotel for other supernatural creatures
who bask in the safety and security Dracula’s castle affords them as
they catch a little R ‘n R. We catch up with the Count in preparation
for the joyous celebration of Mavis’ coming-of-age and he is determined
that her 118th birthday will be a splendid and safe one. He
goes so far to protect his daughter as to fabricate her first adventure
out of the castle and into the human world; hiring hotel staff zombies
to enact the raging, torch-waving, vamp-hating mobs he’s warned her
about since she was an infant. Convinced that he’s done what was right
to protect his baby bat and all is well, Dracula is thoroughly
unprepared when despite all his best defenses, his castle is finally
invaded by a happy-go-lucky traveler so oblivious that none of the
magical barriers or Dracula’s sure-fire powers of suggestion work on
him. The appearance of Jonathan throws everything into chaos as the
very idea of humans near the monsters will put the hotel’s survival at
stake (NPI). Not to mention there’s an instant connection
between the unwelcome visitor and lonely, young Mavis, who’s never even
seen another person her own age -- give or take a century -- which gives
her overprotective father fits. Forced to keep the stranger in the
hotel incognito, Dracula uses clever costuming skills to transform
Jonathan into “Johnnystein”, hiding the boy in plain sight. However,
even while transformed, the young man’s breezy personality impresses all
of the hotel patrons, including Drac’s old pals, Wayne the Werewolf,
Griffin the Invisible Man, Murray the Mummy, and “Uncle Frank”, who
thinks Jonathan -- or “Johnnystein” -- is a long-long cousin. The
undercover human’s impetuous, fun-loving ways shake up the careful order
of stodgy castle, further getting on the bad side of its bloodsucking
proprietor. Caught between his daughter’s burgeoning independence and
the influence of the good-natured interloper, Dracula might be forced to
change the ideas and ways that he’s stuck to for hundreds of years.
Being
known for such an individual sense of style in his previous works, with
Hotel Transylvania director Tartakovsky seems perfectly happy to lean on
past masters like the shorts of Warner Brothers and Tex Avery for the
breakneck speed of the movie’s comedy, where it sometimes seems there’s
18 things going on at once. Also, in the homage department is the
film’s onscreen ensemble; an assortment of classic screen monsters. The
big Universal three are of course front and centre, Dracula,
Frankenstein and the Wolfman, but there’s the Blob, Quasimodo the
hunchback, flying brains (Presumably visiting from Planet Arous),
a hydra, Yetis, giant tarantulas and a facsimile of the Bumble from
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, to name a few. It’s hard not to think
of the 1967 Rankin-Bass feature, Mad Monster Party, which Hotel
Transylvania is close kin to (with a debatable relation to the 70’s
Saturday morning cartoon, The Groovie Goolies), but it’s the
whiplash pacing, gorgeous visuals and heartwarming story of a father’s
love for his daughter that really sets the movie apart. The rich
artwork has lovely depth and texture and the gold, black and fuchsia
palettes look like an animated storybook. The angularness of Count
Dracula himself is the closest to Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack animation
style: The vampire’s various stances and poses seem to have been drawn
with a right-angle ruler, but that is combined with his constant
100-mile-per-hour motion that hearkens back to the old Road Runner/Wile
E. Coyote cartoons. The film features a great voice cast, including a
barely identifiable Adam Sandler as the Count and Selena Gomez as his
sweet, emolicious teen. Steve Buscemi makes a great werewolf, albeit a
run-down one as the monster is particularly fertile and can’t control
his overflowing pard of puppies. Kevin James as Frankenstein’s Monster
must contend with the bellowing tones of a perfectly cast Fran Drescher
as his henpecking bride, Eunice, who closer resembles Peg Bundy than
Elsa Lanchester. A boon to parents of small children, there’s a
gentleness to Hotel Transylvania despite the rambunctious trappings and
there’s nary a scary moment anywhere (Dracula’s occasional aggravated
Exorcist-face aside). The opening sequence which takes us back to
1895 with Dracula caring for baby Mavis is pure sweetness and the story
of how exactly the Count became a single parent is actually quite sad.
It’s clearly a film meant to please all ages and so it does, with the
monsters and their fast-paced slapstick delighting the little ones and
the clever, pop-culture relevant laughs, including Drac’s dismayed
discovery of the twinkly Edward Cullen (“This is how we’re
represented?”) keeping grownups plenty amused and the pretty
visuals of the production keeping everyone happy.
Charming, with a lot of laughs and even more heart, Hotel Transylvania
is a fun time out at the movies the entire family can enjoy.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
September 28th, 2012
Click here to read our exclusive interview with
director/animator Genndy Tartakovsky.
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