HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA

Since Count Dracula decided to open a hotel for monsters only hidden in the heart of Transylvania, creatures of the night finally have a place to gather and stay in peace away from humans. When Mavis, Dracula's daughter, turns 118, her father organizes an exclusive party at the hotel, inviting all the most famous monsters in the world. Until that day, Dracula has managed to keep his daughter in the castle, away from external temptations and especially from human cruelty, even though the girl is increasingly curious about the world she has never known. When John, a young tourist who took a wrong turn while exploring Romania, arrives at the hotel, trouble begins for Dracula: the Count is forced to hide the boy from his guests and from Mavis, who, however, is immediately attracted to the human, presented by the vampire as a distant cousin of the Frankenstein monster! This is the year of monsters in animated cinema! After the zombies and witches of "ParaNorman" and at the same time as the ghost of the Opera in "A Monster in Paris" and the little Frankenstein of "Frankenweenie," there is a real parade of famous and fantastic monsters in "Hotel Transylvania," the new animated film from Sony Pictures. Unlike "ParaNorman," however, which targeted an adolescent audience, "Hotel Transylvania" seems aimed more at children, as it focuses heavily on physical gags, the pace is frenetic, and the colors are very aggressive. The film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky mainly moves on two tracks: first, it addresses the theme of parental/child love, showing the overprotectiveness of one and the other's desire to escape the domestic hearth; at the same time, it condemns prejudice and any form of racism, showing that coexistence is possible even among different races despite inevitable preconceptions and cultural differences. "Hotel Transylvania" thus carries good feelings and values of a certain caliber, not hiding a pedagogical intent expressed in comedic tones. The production's insight lies mainly in bringing together a large number of famous monsters and completely placing the viewer under their perspective, showing how even they feel completely vulnerable to human action, which they fear as much as humans fear them. The mutual fear and hatred are therefore only a huge misunderstanding, generated by superstition and appearance, as well as prejudice that attributes only negative traits to both races (humans and monsters). However, the film, showing us the monsters' point of view and Dracula's in particular, tells us how much things have changed from the end of the 1980s to today, unbeknownst to the famous vampire count, since, thanks to popular culture, cinema, and literature, humans have become accustomed to monsters, even elevating them to icons. But some monsters, having lived secluded all the time, are completely unaware of this! That is why the extroverted John, apart from an understandable initial fright, integrates perfectly among the hotel monsters, even becoming an excellent party planner. Screenwriters Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel have fun including as many monsters as possible, from classic literary or Universal cinema ones to more particular ones, such as gremlins, the Yeti, Blob, as well as zombies, ghosts, witches, and living armor. However, the focus is on some in particular, namely Dracula and his daughter Mavis, Frankie (the Frankenstein monster), Wayne the werewolf, Griffin the invisible man, Quasimodo, and Murray the mummy. As expected, Dracula steals the show, a character written with Adam Sandler in mind (who is the film's producer and voices the character in the original version, while Claudio Bisio dubs him in the Italian version) and excellently characterized in his overprotective, obsessive, and bigoted parenting. Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez and Cristiana Capotondi in Italy) is the classic virginal teenager, inevitably goth/emo in appearance, a bit naive and ready to fall in love at first sight. Among the supporting monsters, the only one truly explored is Wayne the werewolf, an understated pater familias under stress victim of a numerous brood, a pack of mischievous wolf cubs who don't let him sleep at night. Some gags related to the invisible man are amusing, while the mummy character is entirely irrelevant. "Hotel Transylvania" has a frenetic pace, in line with many cartoon television productions from which Tartakovsky comes, such as "Samurai Jack," "The Powerpuff Girls," and "Dexter's Laboratory," even though the director is best known for the animated series on Star Wars, "The Clone Wars," and as a storyboarder for "Iron Man 2" and "Priest," for which he created the animated prologue that closely resembles a beautiful flashback scene found in "Hotel Transylvania." The film's animation is very physical, hyper-expressive, and often caricatured with exaggerated body proportions. The visual result is delightful, with a use of color that plays with dark tones mixed with very bright colors. Additionally, "Hotel Transylvania" is in 3D, as is now the majority of cartoons released in theaters, with good technical quality but serving as an unnecessary ornament that in some points is only noticeable for depth. Destined for a predominantly child audience, "Hotel Transylvania" is a film that entertains with a series of well-placed gags and a well-written story. Obviously, the horror audience is not the main recipient of the work, but the affection with which the material is approached (it's a film on the side of the monsters!) and the unrestrained citationism, which also targets "Twilight" with a funny take-down, make it a film easily appreciable even by the horror fan who is not just a connoisseur of gore. Rounded-up rating.