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Animated Addict: "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" (2018)


Horror and comedy have always gone together- which makes it a logical step to animate a horror comedy, right?  Right

Dracula is getting lonely running his hotel.  His daughter Mavis decides that he needs a vacation from the hotel... and books a cruise for the whole gang.

While there, he meets Ericka, the Captain of the cruise ship... and "zings"...

But will the "zing" be mutual... or is Ericka hiding a dark secret that could ultimately mean Dracula's death?

For a third entry in an animated franchise, "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" isn't bad.  It's not great, though.  I did enjoy the story.  It was sufficiently interesting enough to keep my attention through the bag of cheesy poofs I ate while watching it.  Beyond that, it's a fairly shallow plot.

While it has the whole gang, (Frankie, Griffin the Invisible Man, Wayne the Wolfman, and Murray the Mummy), they play very minor roles as it relates to the plot.  It felt like they were there simply because it was expected that they would.  I will admit that the scenes with Wayne and Wanda (his werewolf wife) were quite enjoyable.  The incidental nature of their roles to the overall story made them feel like they were less than supporting characters overall.  Ericka was an interesting addition, but ultimately felt too two dimensional to really engage me.  Even Dracula lost some of the depth that really made me enjoy the first film.

The voice acting was as good as it was in the previous two films- but still wasn't enough to make me feel emotionally invested in the characters or story.  I sometimes found myself more focused on finding the cheesy poof that fell between the cushions of my sofa.

Cheesy poof dust is soooo hard to get out of cushions, you know.

Would I recommend it?  Maybe.  Would I watch it again?  No.  That puts "Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" into "The Bad".

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