Hotel Transylvania: Transformania

"It's for the best that not just Drac, but ALL the characters should retire!"

- AniMat

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is a 2022 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation and released by Amazon Studios. The fourth and final installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise and the sequel to Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), the film is directed by Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska (in their respective feature-length directorial debuts) from a screenplay by Amos Vernon, Nunzio Randazzo, and Genndy Tartakovsky (who directed the prior three films). Originally planned to be released theatrically in the United States on October 1, 2021, Sony Pictures Releasing cancelled the film's release plans and sold the film's distribution rights (except China) to Amazon Studios for $100 million, due to rising cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in the United States. The film was released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on January 14, 2022, with a Blu-ray, DVD, Digital and VOD release likely to follow in Halloween 2022, almost 10 years after the first movie.

Plot
When Dracula plans to retire and decides to give the hotel key to Mavis and Johnny, the latter proposes future plans for the structure, which disgust Dracula, which leads him to lie by telling him that only monsters can take care of the hotel. Johnny, with the help of Van Helsing, transforms into a monster to surprise Mavis and causes trouble at the castle. Due to some incidents now, Drac and his friends are all human and the crystal gem on the staff of transformation has broken. Now our human monster friends will have to embark on a frantic adventure in the Amazon to find a new crystal gem in order to switch themselves back, or they stay switched like this forever.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The film falls short of the first three films and lacks the charm or charisma that made them great. Due to the fact that Sony said this would be the final film in the saga, then this installment was a mediocre, if not horrible, way to end the Hotel Transylvania series.
 * 2) Making a fourth Hotel Transylvania film is pretty pointless, as the third movie already had a good ending that could have ended the franchise on a positive note. This movie most likely exists because Sony saw box office success of the third and therefore wanted more money, so it had to milk the franchise for a useless fourth installment that no one had ever asked for. Keep that in mind that for you, this plan backfired massively, to the point where they just cancelled its theatrical release entirely (without China) due to rise of COVID cases where they were living at the time, and sent it straight to Amazon Prime Video, where it can easily be pirated by those who don't have a Prime subscription.
 * 3) * Fortunately, the film have a limited theatrical release beginning on February 25, 2022 and ended on March 4, 2022.
 * 4) The concept of turning monsters into humans and vice versa by transform ray is wasted great potential: there would have been so many creative gags, as well as having an interesting perspective on monsters and their human lives, but unfortunately, it is very underused and poorly executed in the film and in all this the only ones to undergo transformations are Johnny, Drac, Gigi, Zombie, Blobbly, Tinkles, Frank, Murray, Griffin, and Wayne. The rest of the characters, including Mavis, Ericka, Van Helsing, Wanda, Eunice, Dennis and Winnie, are not.
 * 5) Similar to other films like Wonder Park, Scoob! and Illumination's the Grinch, one of the main problems of the film is that its pacing is too fast: despite being 87 minutes runtime long, the pacing makes it feel like thirty minutes long and is so hard to follow at times. The film is in fact overloaded with fillers here and there, considering also that the plot is very minimal.
 * 6) The whole plot of the film is a huge cliché, as its about someone making a mistake and everyone has to take a trip across the world to fix it.
 * 7) *The Amazon setting is also a very unoriginal destination world and has already been milked in several films such as Rio 2. And even if other countries like Japan would not give the same spirit, at least they are a more original and interesting destination world. Quite humorously ironic, it shares the same name as its streaming service Amazon Prime Video.
 * 8) * They also still used the generic "liar revealed" trope from the previous films that were extremely off putting and makes everyone getting feel so tried about it already.
 * 9) *The climax is also too similar to Ralph Breaks the Internet. In that film, Ralph and Vanellope fight a series of Ralph's alter ego clones created by Arthur after Ralph and Vanellope have an argument, and Ralph resolves the issue by realizing that his past actions were bad and decides talk the issue out. In this movie, almost the exact thing happens except with Johnny in his monster form turning evil, and the rest of the gang trying to find the crystal that will turn everyone back to normal.
 * 10) While the animation is very colourful and not bad in general, it may have the weakest and weirdest animation in the series, compared to the first three films. In all of this, some textures (such as the castle walls in Dracula's chamber) look like they came straight out of an Xbox 360 game while some models of the plants have a low poly look, which is unacceptable for a 2022 computer-animated film.
 * 11) *There is also a noticeable reused models instead of creating new in the film. For example, in the scene where Johnny in his monster form runs through the corridors and is followed by Dracula who tries to use the ray beam, you can see the same picture of a naked woman lying down multiple times.
 * 12) *Because of that, just like Earwig and the Witch, Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World and The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, some of the facial expressions the characters make are nightmare fuel.
 * 13) *Johnny's monstrous form looks a bit bland and mediocre at best, as he is just a generic green dragon warped in Genndy's style. Also, Griffin's human form looks awful, uncanny, and it looks like if Merida from Brave and Gargamel from the Smurfs had a fat, balding baby.
 * 14) Some main characters are not involved in the protagonists' adventure and too neglected as well as barely do anything. In particular, characters like Dennis, Winnie and Tinkles (minus the latter) have only 4-5 minutes on screen and are left in the hotel as useless for the plot and appearing as a brief gag when Dracula hypnotizes him, and again at the end when they find the Hotel destroyed as well as completely underutilized, despite being major characters since the second film. In a film where the plot revolves around a device that establishes a biological dichotomy between humans and monsters, how would this kind of thing affect a half-human, half-monster? Would it have a unique effect on him? Would he be immune to its effects entirely? Either way, he could have been integral to the plot by virtue of being a half-breed. It makes the same sense if there was a sequel to Shrek in which the eponymous character goes on an adventure with Fiona and leaves Donkey and Puss in Boots at home to look after the little ogres, giving them each a few minutes of screen time. Also Van Helsing doesn't have that much screen time either, as the last time we see him in the movie until the credits is when Gigi was trapped in the pipes. The movie completely forgot about Vlad, who does not appear in any way at all and isn't even mentioned.
 * 15) *Speaking about with Dennis and Winnie, it is very odd that both Mavis and Wanda left their father-sanitized children alone in the hotel where every 10 cubic meters is a danger, which means both Mavis and Wanda are bad mothers who only think about their husbands and not about the health of their children! They also survive the hotel being destroyed by Gigi. In real life, they would have gone straight to jail for such a thing with no reason by the police officers! Granted, both Mavis and Wanda are just worried about their husbands, but still.
 * 16) Dracula, while likable, has given rather to questionable characterization at best.
 * 17) Tons of plot holes and continuity errors that retcons/contradicts the events of the first three movies, even more than Summer Vacation:
 * 18) *Perhaps the most infamous one is the fact that Dracula can hypnotize Dennis and Winnie, despite the fact that in the second film, he couldn't hypnotize the vampire scout leader to bribe him.
 * 19) *At one point, Drac hates Johnny for some inexplicable reason, which was resolved all the way back during the first film.
 * 20) *Mavis burns in the sun, but while traveling by car, some rays do not burn her. How is that possible?
 * 21) *How did everyone survive the hotel being destroyed by Gigi in his monster form for hiding the safe spot for some reason?
 * 22) *The transforming ray/beam effect of the drink fountain (which is really did by Dracula, while chasing Johnny) can turn monsters into humans, but for some reason, Blobbly and Tinkles are reduced to a plate of jelly and normal dog instead of humans, respectively.
 * 23) *When Dracula freezes everyone to clean up the 125th anniversary party of Hotel Transylvania, it doesn't freeze Mavis because according to Dracula, "Vampires can't freeze other vampires", which is rather incorrect because Dracula freezes Mavis at the end of the first movie.
 * 24) *The film continually acts like Drac was intending to give the hotel to Johnny specifically, which is why he makes up the fake real estate law in the first place, but sometimes completely forgets that he was originally just going to put Mavis in charge. The lie doesn't even address the idea of Drac passing it onto her, explaining that she can't due to her being married to a human.
 * 25) Part of the humor consists of useless jokes of butt and fart (even if there is only one, in the credits). However, the dumbest, if not inappropriate, joke is when Griffin becomes human and the invisibility disappears, a close-up of his butt is shown after forming, which is very disgusting.
 * 26) *The scene is even shown again at the very end, meaning the very last shot in the entire Hotel Transylvania franchise is a butt shot.
 * 27) The film has the need to make appeal to children in the strangest way you can imagine. For example, some trailers used the infamous song "How you like that?" by the Kpop group BlackPink, which has nothing to do with the film. And second, when Mavis becomes suspicious of monsters, Wayne does the Renegade Dance for 10 seconds to bribe her, making this the most dated aspect of the entire movie, and only exists to appeal to young TikTok users.
 * 28) Johnny is pretty flanderized here. In the first three films, he was pretty funny and enjoyable, but in this film, he is made extremely annoying through his jokes, dialogue and even partly his performance. While Andy Samberg does a pretty good job as always, for some reason he puts a higher pitch and a goofier register to his voice, which is more irritating than funny.
 * 29) What's even more heartbreaking is that they just forget and don't use some of the most important element stuff that makes this franchise memorable, for example, anything even remotely related to the whole concept of zinging (going as far as not using the word Zing even once), and quotes from previous films like "Human, monster, unicorn. It didn't matter.", And "Bleh Bleh Bleh". Actually the latter quote is used, but once and in the wrong context, to the point that the film is no longer fun to watch.
 * 30) Instead of showing the viewer what the interiors of the rebuilt Hotel Transylvania and Health Spa looked like in computer-animated style during the ending of the movie where Mavis and Johnny rebuild and gives Dracula to see and got a new makeover for one year later, they decided to opted to end the movie right before it happens and showed it off via a 2D animated credit style sequence instead, resulting being poorly executed and disappointing for some people.
 * 31) Even with Twitch streamer Ninja (or Richard Tyler Blevins) involved as the staring voice cast, he barely gives off a performance consisting of anything other than two lines for Party Monster which is even drowned out by the Cha Cha Slide, meaning that this is yet another example of stunt casting just to get people to watch it, which as mentioned before, backfired back when this was going to be in theaters before they cancelled the release, making it wasted.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Some funny moments, like the first three movies, like when Dracula wondered why the bus was going slow and found that it was the heaviness of Johnny's monstrous form, the human monsters hiding behind the bags and their wives arrived one after another and a zombie who became human due to the beam and was cheering who said its over, he is human again, only to be bitten by another zombie and become a sad zombie. The one fart joke is actually funny and the way Drac and his friends get mad at Griffin for creating fart bubbles, despite the whirlpool plug being unplugged, is very hilarious.
 * 2) The characters, through flaws, are still likable, such as Dracula, Mavis, and Wayne.
 * 3) Some human monster designs are decent: Murray is now a decrepit and fun old pharaoh, Drac and Wayne are decent, and Frank is nothing short of awesome.
 * 4) The Tex Avery-esque animation is very decent and colorful, despite the flaws. Also, if the strange, jerky movements of the third film were bothering you, we have good news for you: in this film they have been smoothed out.
 * 5) The 2D-animation is decent during the end credits, just like the previous three films.
 * 6) The scene where Dracula avenges the destruction of the hotel by turning Gigi back to normal is pretty good.
 * 7) *Dracula's reaction of the destruction of the hotel is extremely sad and heartbreaking. It was the saddest moment in the Hote Transylvania franchise.
 * 8) The ending involving Dracula, Mavis and their friends rebuilding the hotel is heartwarming, despite the poorly executed. In fact, during the end credits, the rebuilt hotel got a new makeover.
 * 9) Excellent voice acting by all actors, due to the cast reprising the role in first three films as well as new cast. Brian Hull, in particular, gives a fantastic performance, almost sounding identical to Adam Sandler. The same can kind of be said about Brad Abrell as Frank, but he isn't in the film enough for it to leave an impression as Kevin James.
 * 10) The idea of the monsters being transformed into humans by the transforming ray is good, too bad to say, it is very underutilized and poorly executed.
 * 11) Like the first three films, Mark Mothersbaugh's score is still great.
 * 12) The opening song about the hotel's past is also very fantastic and memorable. As it makes a callback to the beginning of the very first film that started it all.

Reception
Like the first three films, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania received mixed reviews from critics, through unlike the movie's three predecessors, the reaction from audience were mixed and they considered it the weakest films in the franchise, even though it didn't cause Sony Pictures Animation to go downhill. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 52% of 65 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Much like the trio of films it follows, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is middling family viewing -- relatively painless, but overall rather uninspired." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

AniMat give it 3/10, saying that Drac should not just retire, but all the characters should retire as well.

Videos
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Trivia

 * Unlike the first three films, the title was shown in the end credits.
 * This is the second SPA film not to feature the Columbia Pictures print logo in the end credits, just the Sony Pictures logo like in Vivo.
 * Unlike The Third film which didn't show it, The Columbia Pictures logo is shown at the beginning but using a different variant than the first 2 movies. This time, the torch lady becomes Blobby instead of a bat.
 * It is also the only film to use the 2018 Sony Pictures Animation logo (which was introduced in Spider-Verse, the same year the third HT Movie came out which had the 2011 logo) where Tinkles carries the logo in its mouth and puts it in the screen.
 * Had this gotten a theatrical release like planned, this would've been the second fully animated movie series to have 4 instalments released in cinemas, after Shrek.
 * This would have also meant that Sony Pictures Animation would be the second feature animation studio to have a fully animated movie series with 4 instalments released in cinemas, after DreamWorks.
 * There was a controversy involving this movie where Tumblr thought Griffin was hot then was surprised when he wasn't hot.
 * Adam Sandler and Kevin James did not return for the film, because they work for current upcoming Netflix movie projects.
 * It is also the only film to use a variant of the Sony 2014-2021 motion logo (where it gains vampire fangs). It also will likely be SPA's last film ever to use the 2014-2021 Sony motion logo in general.
 * A possible reason why the Sony 2014-2021 motion logo was used here was due to the film's long delay, with it shifting from theatrical to streaming in the process. It also did not help that during the delay, Sony introduced their new motion logo in 2021.