Though I just recently passed my “teen”-ish years, I can’t help that I’m still a kid at heart and absolutely a sucker for a lot of kinds of family-oriented, animation films.
One of these was Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania, which I got to see via exclusive screening courtesy of my coverage for Orange Magazine TV last September 13 at the Columbia Pictures office in Edsa Shangri-La Mall.
Hotel Transylvania is Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. But basically, it is a hotel for monsters according to Johnnystein (voiced by Andy Samberg)
Unlike his horror movie counterpart, the story follows the life of Hotel Transylvania manager Dracula or Drac ( voiced bycomedian Adam Sandler) as a overprotective father and Hotel Transylvania manager, his daughter Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) and their complicated relationship as a overprotecting father and a daughter who wants freedom. He may be a control freak in managing the hotel according to his best monster buds, but when his daughter Mavis is concerned, he’s a real softy. Andnow that Mavis is celebrating her 118th birthday and wished for her freedom to see the real world, he finds it hard to choose between granting her wish and keeping her safe from harm.
Despite her confusion at the beginning, she eventually understands the reasons behind her father’s overprotectiveness of her and learns about information about her mother in the process.
Celebrating her birthday with her father’s friends: Frankenstein (Kevin James) and his Eunice (Fran Drescher), the Werewolves couple Wayne (Steve Buscemi) and Wanda (Molly Shannon), Murray the Mummy (CeeLo Green) and Griffin The infamous Invisible Man (David Spade) had been a tradition but when a wanderlust backpacker named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) accidentally “check-ins” at the hotel and falls for Mavis, they didn’t know that she’ll have a birthday celebration that can change the course their lives forever.
Families could relate to Hotel Transylvania as it follows a “single-father-and-only daughter-relationship-in-danger” plot. Like any other teens, I’ve been in my rebellious phase and didn’t even listen to my parents in some point. I had regret doing it and asked my parents for forgiveness. I learned that “parents know best” for their children and can sacrifice their own happiness for them.
Though I’m a fan of these kinds of movies, I was more excited for the comedic antics and jokes that the all-star cast spearheaded by the multi-talented Adam Sandler will provide throughout the film. I’ve been a fan of him since 50 First Dates (the first Adam Sandler film that I watched) and the most recent Sandler film that I’ve watched and enjoyed was the 2010 film Grown Ups.
Adding another jab at the comedic side of the film was Andy Samberg, who shares the same initials and the Saturday Night Live history as Sandler. And the chemistry between the two is really evident.
Just a fast fact for you guys, Hotel Transylvania is the movie where he and his friends/Grown Ups co-stars Kevin James, David Spade and Steve Buscemi also got reunited again before doing the GU sequel. So expect some on-screen comedic chemistry between them and it was nice to see that all of them contributed with the crude humor that eventually makes the movie enjoyable for the adults and entertaining for the kids.
Also, the movie has been a “family affair” for the Sandlers as his wife, actress Jacqueline “Jackie” Titone and their eldest daughter Sadie Madison Sandler lend their voices for the characters of Drac’s wife Martha and a young Mavis in the film.
Brace yourself and be entertained with awesome musical numbers from the musically inclined cast members including Adam himself, Selena Gomez and Cee Lo Green and it is definitely another thing that you should watch for.
Opening across the Philippines in September 28, 2012, Hotel Transylvania is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.
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Our contributor, Alexandra Mari Leal, is a graduating student from Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Sta. Mesa, taking up Bachelor in Journalism. She is currently doing her on-the-job training at Orange Magazine TV.
Alexandra Leal also wrote this month’s cover feature featuring Enzo Pineda. Follow her on Twitter: @IAMDLeal
