Several of the contemporary paradigms regarding animated films leave the feeling that they are not just films for children. Although the label accompanies them, productions such as Intensely (Pete Docter, 2015) or Soul (Pete Docter Kemp Powers, 2020) can move adults from different places. Are movies that entertain the little ones and resonate in deeper areas of the adults. A lot of that doesn’t happen with Hotel Transylvania: Transformania and that doesn’t have to be a problem.
While productions like the ones mentioned have a philosophical depth that can seduce adults but be incomprehensible to children (they are not responsible for their lack of something to live for), Hotel Transylvania: Transformania does not aspire to this. The background of the film is short. However, the message is clear. Taking into account that it is already the fourth installment of this franchise, beyond the natural wear and tear of some resources, it seems to be stable within its universe.
Does that imply that it is a movie only for children? No. The older ones can also enjoy because the Hotel Transylvania: Transformania does not disconnect from the entertainment nor does he forget to leave a moral. His great merit is knowing what story he wants to tell and doing it efficiently, based on the direction of Jennifer Kluska and Derek Drymon, and the support of Sony and Amazon Prime Video.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
and Dracula’s Crossroads
Dracula wishes to stop managing Hotel Transylvania. To do this, he hopes to pass it on to his daughter and her partner. One of the monsters with the longest tradition in the collective imagination does not want to continue exercising his role as manager within this universe. But he doesn’t trust them either, especially Jonathan, to take over the company. That leads the world’s most famous vampire to make a series of decisions that not only complicate the transition but literally transform him.
Due to a mistake, Dracula loses his powers and transforms into a human. From that moment on, one of the most interesting sections of the film begins because the physical change also generates a mental evolution that takes the character to another stage. A subtle but useful narrative resource, which helps the story move forward. Something simple but not always found in productions.
That development goes hand in hand with different moments that are not usually seen within the stories related to Dracula. Beyond versions like the one that was presented recently in Castlevania, the Netflix animated series in which the character suffers different human experiences from heartbreak, in Hotel Transylvania: Transformania that approach is much closer. For those details it works.
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A reversal of the myth of El Dorado
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania has a key section in Latin America. To resolve the mismatch that it generated, Dracula must travel to the mainland to find a crystal that will allow him to activate a tool. The region begins to be represented with different stereotypes, from the weather, the colorful streets, the vehicular chaos to the closeness of its people. The character makes his way through all this to enter the jungle. Among so much virgin nature, as in the old stories related to The Golden, finds what Dracula desires.
The film does not function as a tribute to Latin America through this journey, something that could be attributed to Charm (Byron Howard and Jared Bush, 2021), for example; but he winks at part of the culture and characteristics of the region without detaching himself from the story he wants to tell. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania It is not a film to disarm with laughter or be moved to the point of swimming in tears, perhaps it does not even leave deep reflections. But by being clear about what you want to tell and where you want to go, it becomes a compact, well-made and entertaining visual story..