🚢 Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) Review

“Cruising toward mediocrity.”


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Lets start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

🎥 Trailers

The trailers promised a colorful twist: monsters leaving the safety of the hotel for a luxury cruise. A fresh setting, a new romance for Dracula, and vacation chaos were teased — but what audiences got felt like a watered-down version of the first two films.


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📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Feeling overworked and lonely, Dracula agrees to go on a cruise with Mavis, Johnny, Dennis, and the monster crew. There, he meets Ericka, the ship’s captain, and experiences a “zing” — much to Mavis’ suspicion. But Ericka hides a secret: she’s the descendant of Van Helsing, the legendary monster hunter, and she’s planning to destroy Dracula and his friends.

Hijinks, slapstick, and musical numbers ensue as Dracula tries to woo Ericka, while she wrestles with her loyalty to her family’s anti-monster legacy.


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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Character Rundown

Dracula (Adam Sandler): Front and center again, this time with a romance subplot that doesn’t quite land.

Mavis (Selena Gomez): The voice of reason, protective of her dad, but given less to do this time.

Johnny (Andy Samberg): Still goofy comic relief, but sidelined.

Ericka (Kathryn Hahn): The new love interest and Van Helsing’s descendant. Starts as a villain but predictably softens.

Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan): A cartoonish, over-the-top villain whose antics push the film into sillier territory.

Monster Crew: Frank, Wayne, Murray, and Griffin tag along, but feel more like background gags than real characters.



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⏱️ Pacing / Episode Flow

Unlike the first two, this movie feels uneven. The cruise setting brings color and variety, but the story meanders with disconnected gags, dance numbers, and filler. The central romance between Dracula and Ericka lacks chemistry, dragging the movie into predictable, cliché territory.


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✅ Pros

The animation remains vibrant and energetic.

A few jokes still land (like Blobby’s vacation antics).

Kathryn Hahn adds some spark to Ericka’s role.



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❌ Cons

Romance subplot: Dracula and Ericka’s “zing” feels forced, lacking the emotional pull of the first two films.

Van Helsing villain: Cartoonishly weak and unthreatening, turning the story into farce.

Wasted characters: Mavis, Johnny, and the monster crew feel sidelined, existing only for quick gags.

Overreliance on slapstick and music numbers: Funny once or twice, but tiresome by the end.

Franchise fatigue: By now, the freshness of the concept is gone — it feels like the series is coasting.



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💭 Why the Franchise Slips

The first two films worked because they combined heart (Drac and Mavis’ family dynamic) with creative monster comedy. By this third entry, the heart is gone, replaced by over-the-top silliness and a generic romance. The humor, once snappy, now leans on loud slapstick and dance battles.

This is where the franchise starts its downward slide: instead of exploring new creative directions or deepening the family themes, it falls into “safe sequel” territory, recycling jokes and throwing in random gags without emotional weight.


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⭐ Rating

5/10 — Bright and energetic, but shallow. Funny in parts, but mostly proof that the series was running out of steam.


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⚠️ Spoiler Warning ⚠️

🕵️ Extended Spoilers – Hotel Transylvania 3 (2018)

Dracula reluctantly goes on the cruise and almost instantly “zings” with Ericka, the ship’s captain. Mavis grows suspicious, worried her father is rushing into romance. Ericka, meanwhile, secretly works for her great-grandfather, Abraham Van Helsing, who has survived into the modern era as a half-mechanical, bumbling monster-hunter. Their plan: lure Dracula and his friends aboard and destroy them.

As the cruise continues, Ericka finds herself conflicted. Despite her initial hatred for monsters, she begins to enjoy Dracula’s charm and kindness. The monster crew bumble their way through vacation activities — volleyball, buffets, and sightseeing — but these scenes mostly feel like filler gags.

The big reveal comes when Van Helsing unleashes his master plan: a massive Kraken controlled by music. The climax devolves into a ridiculous music battle, with Dracula and his friends countering Van Helsing’s evil symphony using upbeat pop music (yes, really). The Kraken is calmed, Van Helsing is defeated, and Ericka admits she truly cares for Dracula.

The movie ends with Dracula proposing to Ericka, Mavis finally giving her blessing, and the monsters returning to the hotel. It’s a neat bow, but compared to the heartfelt family story of the first two films, it feels hollow and overstuffed with noise.