The film's poster.
Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American computer animated fantasy comedy film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky and written by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel. It features the voices of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Selena Gomez and Andy Samberg.
The action takes place in a hotel which Dracula has built in order to keep his daughter Mavis and his friends safe from the dreaded humans, Dracula believing that all humans are wicked, dangerous and dedicated to destroying all monsters. The plot centers around the disruption which occurs when a young man named Jonathan becomes the first ever human to arrive at the hotel and when he and Mavis fall in love with each other.
The film was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for some frightening images and rude jokes.
Hotel Transylvania performed reasonably well at the box office. Having been made on a budget of $85,000,000, it went on to earn over $148,000,000 at movie theaters in North America and over $210,000,000 at cinemas in the rest of the world.
A sequel, Hotel Transylvania 2, was released in the United States on September 25, 2015. Another sequel, Hotel Transylvania 3, is due to be released on July 13, 2018. Hotel Transylvania: The Series, an animated series that serves as a prequel to the first film which was co-produced by Sony Pictures Animation and the Canadian entertainment company Nelvana, premiered on the Disney Channel in the United States and many other countries on June 25, 2017.
Plot
After his vampire wife Martha is burned to death inside her castle by angry villagers, Dracula is left with an intense fear and hatred of all humans. He is also obliged to bring up his daughter Mavis on his own. He raises the child, telling her stories about the wicked things that humans do and singing songs in which he promises to protect her from them. Mavis is forbidden from leaving home and venturing out into the outside world until she reaches the age of 118, when she will finally be grown up.
In order to further protect Mavis, and to provide a safe haven for all other monsters, Dracula has the Hotel Transylvania constructed. It is a luxury hotel for monsters only, staffed by zombies, witches who use their magic broomsticks to clean up and empty suits of armor that are able to walk and talk on their own. Its resident French chef is Quasimodo. Dracula is assured that no human will ever reach the hotel because it is protected by a haunted forest and a graveyard full of the undead.
As Mavis' 118th birthday approaches, several of Dracula's old friends arrive to celebrate, including Frankenstein's monster (called "Frankenstein" in the movie) and his wife Eunice, a werewolf couple named Wayne and Wanda and their many werewolf children, a mummy named Murray and the Invisible Man.
To her surprise, Dracula finally allows Mavis to leave and explore the outside world, suggesting that she visit a nearby human village. Changing herself into a bat, Mavis flies there. Her excitement quickly changes to horror as the villagers threaten her with flaming torches, pitchforks and garlic bread. Mavis flees from the village, vowing never to leave home again. The village is revealed to be a fake, constructed on Dracula's orders, and the villagers are all really zombies in disguise.
Dracula is shocked and horrified when a human, a young traveler called Jonathan who is carrying a huge backpack, suddenly walks through the hotel's front door. Jonathan explains that he heard about the haunted forest and could not resist the challenge of walking through it. Jonathan naturally assumes that all of the guests at the hotel are people wearing costumes. However, when he puts his hand inside the rib cage of a living skeleton, he realizes that they are all genuine monsters. Jonathan is initially terrified but soon calms down and is eager to find out more about Dracula and the other monsters. He learns that some of the stories about Dracula are true; the vampire count is allergic to garlic and a wooden stake through the heart would kill him (just as it would kill anybody else) but he does not like human blood (which is too fatty) and has not drunk any kind of blood for years, choosing to drink artificial blood substitutes instead. Dracula also insists that he never says "blah, blah, blah" and cannot understand why people think he does.
In order to get Jonathan out of the hotel without panicking the guests, Dracula uses make-up to disguise the human as a monster. When he runs into Mavis and some of Dracula's friends, Jonathan is able to pass himself off as Frankenstein's distant cousin Johnny Stein. Dracula explains that he has hired Johnny Stein, as someone nearer to Mavis own age, to help organize her birthday party. Jonathan says that he is only 121-years old. As a result, Jonathan is obliged to stay around for a while to give the appearance of helping to organize the party.
Mavis and Jonathan take an instant liking to each other. The other monsters enjoy Jonathan's company too. He entertains them with stories of his many travels, introduces them to modern lively music and allows them to ride his scooter, until it is eaten by a gremlin. Dracula soon realizes that Jonathan is not dangerous but is still worried about the panic that the presence of a human in the hotel could cause, does not want his daughter to get too close to Jonathan and is increasingly jealous of the young man's popularity. Dracula repeatedly tries to get Jonathan to leave the hotel. He tries to hypnotize him into forgetting that he was ever there but Jonathan's contact lenses prevent the hypnotism from working. After the two of them get into a playful chase while magically moving flying tables around a room, Dracula finally comes to see Jonathan as a good friend too.
Quasimodo believes that he can smell the presence of a human in the hotel. When he tracks the scent down to Jonathan, he captures the young man and takes him to the kitchen to roast him over an open fire. Dracula rescues Jonathan by magically freezing Quasimodo.
As they dance at her birthday party, Mavis and Jonathan both feel that they have found their one true love. Although still frozen, Quasimodo is able to make it to the party and point out that Jonathan is really a human. Jonathan finally agrees that it is better that he leave the hotel.
Having realized that his daughter can only find true happiness with Jonathan, Dracula determines to bring him back. He persuades Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, Murray the mummy and Wayne the werewolf to join his search, get into his car and venture out into the outside world with him. Simply by sniffing a T-shirt which has fallen out of Jonathan's backpack, one of Wayne's werewolf children is able to determine that Jonathan has gone to the airport and is even able to give the number and time of his flight.
Dracula and his friends find that a Monster Festival is being held in Transylvania. The streets are packed with costumed monster fans, blocking the only road to the airport. The monsters reluctantly get out of the car. Dracula is forced to wear a sombrero to protect himself from the sunlight, which has a harmful (although not fatal) effect on him. The monsters try to clear a path for themselves by scaring the people away, which does not work because the people all declare that they love the monsters. Deciding to use the people's love for them to their advantage, the monsters persuade everyone present to help the real Count Dracula. The crowd are told to clear a path which leads to the airport, those wearing Dracula costumes are told to lift their capes, forming a canopy which Dracula can pass under without being harmed by the sun.
Arriving at the airport just as Jonathan's plane is taking off, Dracula has no choice but to change himself into a bat and fly into the sunlight in pursuit of the plane. He hypnotizes the pilot into issuing an apology to Jonathan on his behalf, before making the pilot turn the plane around.
Returning home a little sunburned but otherwise unharmed, Dracula is able to reunite Jonathan and Mavis and another party is held to celebrate.
Voice cast
- Dracula — Adam Sandler
- Mavis, Dracula's daughter — Selena Gomez
- Jonathan — Andy Samberg
- Frankenstein — Kevin James
- Eunice, Frankenstein's wife — Fran Drescher
- Wayne the werewolf — Steve Buscemi
- Wanda the werewolf — Molly Shannon
- The Invisible Man — David Spade
- Murray the mummy — CeeLo Green
- Quasimodo — Jon Lovitz