Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is a movie about monsters getting away from the usual routine. That premise should work. It doesn’t quite.
The film follows Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) and his friends on a cruise ship vacation. They are trying to enjoy some peace and quiet after years spent running a hotel full of creatures. What follows is a predictable plot about a rival trying to ruin their trip and a chase across the ship that mostly plays out as a series of sight gags and jokes aimed at younger viewers.
Trailer, via Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The Cruise Ship Setting
The setting itself is the main selling point. A cruise ship packed with monsters offers plenty of visual jokes, and the film leans into that idea early on. There are jokes about monster-only pools, creature-only restaurants, and the general chaos of a group of supernatural beings trying to relax together. Some of these jokes land well, especially when the script takes time to let characters interact rather than rush toward the next setup.
But the pacing suffers badly in the middle stretch. Once the rival shows up and the chase begins, the film slows down to explain its own rules again and again. The jokes grow thinner, and the story spends too much time repeating itself rather than building toward a payoff.
Sandler’s Performance
Adam Sandler voices Dracula once again, and he delivers the same mix of over-the-top energy and softness that defined his earlier turns in the franchise. His Dracula is a loving father figure who is desperate for his daughter Mavis to enjoy a proper vacation. The performance works best in quieter scenes, where he can play the character’s worry and love without leaning on broad physical comedy.
The supporting cast around him is solid. Andy Samberg, Kevin James, and David Spade all return as members of the monster crew, and their chemistry carries some of the film’s better moments. But even they can’t save a script that doesn’t give them enough to do.
The Chase Sequence
The climax of Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is a chase sequence across the ship. It’s energetic and well-animated, but it’s also the weakest part of the film. The sequence repeats similar setups several times, and the humor grows increasingly thin as the film tries to build toward a big finish. By the time the credits roll, the payoff feels underwhelming.
There are a few bright spots scattered throughout. A sequence involving a particular character’s fear of heights gets some genuine laughs, and a running gag about a shipboard animal park lands a couple of times. These moments are brief, though, and they’re buried beneath a lot of filler material.
Hard Numbers
- Title: Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
- Year: 2018
- Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
- Voice cast: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, David Spade
- Score: 5.4/10
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation isn’t a bad movie. It’s just a forgettable one. The premise is clever, the animation is polished, and the cast is game. But the script can’t sustain its own premise, and the chase sequence that should have been the high point ends up feeling like a waste of a promising idea. It’s a movie that’s pleasant to watch and quickly forgotten afterward.
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