Hotel Transylvania, the Sony Pictures Animation film featuring the voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg and more, released on DVD and Blu-ray January 29.
Review:
Hotel Transylvania is the epitome of a children’s animated film with easy-to-understand jokes, simple musical numbers, and a positive message behind the scenes. Adults don’t have much to grab on to, other than numerous recognizable monster cameos and references, but it makes for a great movie for kids.
The film follows Dracula (Adam Sandler) who invites some of his monster friends and family (including Frank the Frankenstein’s monster (Kevin James), Murray the mummy (Cee Lo Green), the Wayne the werewolf (Steve Buscemi), and Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade), to celebrate his daughter Mavis’ (Selena Gomez) 118th birthday at his monster getaway, Hotel Transylvania, when a human traveler name Jonathan (Andy Samberg) unexpectedly shows up.
As seen above, the voice cast is full of hugely familiar names. Fans of these comedic actors and musicians can look forward to a film featuring their style humor through their voices. There are also some more great supporting voices including Fran Drescher as Eunice, Frank the Frankenstein’s monster’s wife, Molly Shannon as Wanda, Wayne the werewolf’s wife, Jon Lovitz as Quasimodo Wilson, the former Hunchback of Notre Dame who now works as a gourmet chef, and Luenell as a shrunken head.
The film is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, who created popular Cartoon Network shows ‘Samurai Jack’, ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’, and ‘Sym-Bionic Titan’. This was his feature directorial debut and he took the film to follow the energy and exaggeration of 2D animation seen especially in animator Tex Avery’s (who created characters such as Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny) cartoons.
In the end, Hotel Transylvania doesn’t have the most creative storyline and is fairly predictable, but it does what it needs to do to entertain kids with its energetic animation, quirky humor, and fun characters, and won’t bore the adult watchers to sleep.
Hotel Transylvania has a run time of approximately 90 minutes, and is rated PG for some rude humor, action and scary images.
Visuals/Sound
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D, the Blu-ray features a 1080p/AVC-encoded (MVC-encoded for 3D) presentation in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The 3D isn’t too spectacular as far as adding anything to the movie, but for those that enjoy movies in 3D it will do the job. Either way, the Blu-ray visuals are impeccable with strong black levels, a vibrant color palette, and overall sharpness.
The Blu-ray comes with lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound which sounds as good as the transfer looks. Immersive as a surround system should be, there is constant surround support that envelops the audience from beginning to end. Dialogue is clear and focused in the center channel, rear speakers allow a great ambience during exterior scenes, and the sound really booms during the musical numbers throughout the film.
Extras
There are Blu-ray exclusives featured on the 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray Combo Pack releases of the film and commentary tracks included on all releases. The bonus features include:
DVD
- Commentary with Director Genndy Tartakovsky, Producer Michelle Murdocca, and Visual Effects Supervisor Daniel Kramer
- ‘Goodnight Mr. Foot’ short animated film
- Deleted Scenes
- “Problem (Monster Remix)” music video by Becky G featuring will.i.am
- Behind the Scenes of “Problem (Monster Remix)”
- Previews
- UV Digital Copy
Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray exclusives (includes DVD extras)
- Progression reels
- DVD Copy
Two featurettes:
- Meet the Staff and Guests: Voicing Hotel Transylvania
- Making the Hotel
Overall, Hotel Transylvania is a kids-oriented film that families should enjoy as it is high energy all the way through, and features youthful humor while starring actors and monster cameos that adults will recognize and appreciate.
Buy Hotel Transylvania Blu-ray
Buy Hotel Transylvania Blu-ray 3D
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