Hotel Transylvania: Transformania - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
When people think of Genndy Tartakovsky they normally think of the Clone Wars miniseries (before the WB animation show with Ahsoka), or even the new Primal series. His strange visual aesthetics are almost as iconic as his storytelling, and usually when people see one of his films/shows, they IMMEDIATELY can pinpoint the eccentric director/writer. However, when you tell people that the Hotel Transylvania series was directed and written by the guy you can almost always be assured that whoever you tell that too will sit up and say “wait? Really?”. It was one of the autuer’s more mainstream projects, and one that has not only paid off for him, but given Adam Sandler’s career a boost outside of his own production company efforts (which are basically a way to keep his comedian friends employed and for him to write off a vacation to whatever location they shoot at for the last 10-15 years).

The Hotel Transylvania series has been surprisingly fun, and one of those staple film series that is never great, but always entertaining enough to please most people. With this 4th installment, Dracula (Adam Sandler) is getting ready to retire and hand over the keys of his hotel to his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and his human son in law Jonathan (Andy Samberg). And therein lies the problem. Jonathan may be the love of his daughter’s life, but he’s still a goofball human that seems to ruin everything that he touches. On the eve of the 125th anniversary of his monster hotel, Dracula gets cold feet and backs out of his plan to turn over the keys to Mavis and Jonathan, but only after lying to Jonathan that it was due to the boy not being a monster and that monster laws forbade it.

Depressed and heartbroken that he ruined everything for Mavis, Jonathan decides to take Dr. Van Helsing’s monster ray and turn himself INTO a monster. Only thing is, his luck sort of takes over and the ray turns Dracula into a human (along with several other monsters), which is not exactly something that Drac was looking forward to. Both Jonathan and Dracula don’t want to hurt Mavis, so the two of them set out on a quest to find a replacement crystal for the now burnt out monster ray gun machine and hopefully learn a little about each other along the way….that is if they don’t kill each other first.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The Hotel Transylvania series is nothing special. They aren’t particularly fantastic, they don’t have an amazing pay off, but they ARE incredibly reliably entertaining. Simply put, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is just like the previous three films. A solid family animated film that is pleasing to watch, but never goes above and beyond into classic Pixar/Disney stage. It simply is perfectly enjoyable popcorn fodder that is enjoyable to watch without being amazing. Transformania follows the same general plotline of the previous three films, with Dracula having to deal with Jonathan being a goofy human, and Jonathan learning to accept himself and feel accepted into his new family.

Honestly, I still think that Genndy Tartakovsky and Adam Sandler are in it together, each agreeing to work with the other to keep a fairly consistent revenue stream. The duo works well with the quirky writing, and Adam is actually heavily toned down from his live action performances (not including Sandlers handful of dramatic roles). Andy Samberg is so stupidly lovable as Jonny (as always) and Selena Gomez is charming as ever. Take what you will from the series, but even though they are never elevated to top tier animated film, the Sony produced series of films (and an animated TV show) always produce consistently pleasing results for a fun watch.




Rating:

Rated PG for some action and rude humor including cartoon nudity.




Video:

This surprises absolutely NO ONE, but Transformania comes to Blu-ray with a dazzling 1080p Blu-ray transfer. The digital animation is absolutely amazing, with some of the best color saturation levels I have ever seen in an animated film. The image is just littered with deep greens, reds, blues and every neon monster shading you can think of. Black levels are just superb, with deep inky shadows, great detailing in the darkest of nights, and only a SLIGHT amount of banding to keep this from being a perfect 5/5 rated transfer. Textures are still very impressive, with the audience able to see every scale on Jonny’s monster form, or the rippling layers of the flame that he belches out of his mouth. Simply put, this is a superb digitally animated film that keeps a very consistently high quality level no matter the scene.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track (in multiple languages actually) is quite the stunner as well. It’s a highly aggressive mix that thrives off wild surround usage, TONS of bass, and a great front end that allows us to hear every little bit of dialog perfectly. Did I mention that there was a lot of bass in the film? Yes I did, but let me reiterate, there is a LOT of bass in the track. I was grinning from ear to ear as every monster slam, and every roar from Jonny’s mouth just shook my listening position with absolutely ferocity. The score also had a lot more low end “oomph” than I expected and I came away from the entire listening experience with one thought on my mind. Which was “wow, that was a LOT of bass!”.












Extras:

• A Hotel Transylvania Mini-Movie: Monster Pets
• Monster Mash-Up: Making Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
• Selena vs. Andy: A Hotel Transyl-Trivia Quiz
• "Love Is Not Hard to Find" by YEИDRY – Lyric Video
• Filmmaker Commentary
• Previews

Final Score: ​

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is the first of the series NOT to be directed by Tartakovsky, but it still maintains his trademark quirkiness and fun atmosphere that we’ve all enjoyed for the last 11 years. I was a bit disappointed that the film didn’t arrive in 4K UHD, but the Blu-ray looks and sounds as great as you would expect from Sony, and with the moderate extras makes the film a no brainer for fans of the previous 3 films. My recommendation is as always “fun watch”.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Andy Samberg, Selena Gomze, Adam Sandler, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, David Spade
Directed by: Derek Drymon, Jennifer Kluska
Written by: Amos Vernon, Nunzio Randazzo, Genndy Tartakovsky
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1,, Spanish, French DTS-HD MA 5.1, English, French DVS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, Spanish, French
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG
Runtime: 88 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: August 15th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I am a fan of Tartakovsky and I have enjoyed the Hotel Transylvania movies.