After a debut five years ago, Sony’s animated monster franchise Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation returns to the theaters for it’s third installment. The movie has a standout voice cast featuring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Keegan-Michael Key, Molly Shannon, Fran Drescher, Mel Brooks and more. It focuses on Dracula, Mavis, Johnny, and the rest of the family taking a vacation on the Monster Cruise Ship, where Dracula becomes attracted to the ship’s mysterious captain.
Picking up where they left off, Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) take all their friends on vacay in Hotel Transylvania 3. Early on we learn that there is someone out for the monsters, and there always has been. Van Helsing, the vampire slayer that has been after Drac for centuries, has always failed but he is determined to try one last time. So, the monsters board their stress-free cruise hoping in hopes of getting away from the worries the hotel brings, however, it’s just not that easy.
Drac boards his cruise and almost instantly “zings” on Ericka, the cruise director. Mavis begins to have her suspicions about her father, because monsters are only supposed to “zing” once and that already happened with Mavis’ late mother, but this exception speaks for itself. Completely disinterested at heart and scheming the entire time, Ericka entertains Drac to keep him distracted from what she is really up to. Little do all the monsters aboard know, Ericka their beloved cruise director, is the great-great granddaughter of Van Helsing. Since they are human and not immortal like the monsters, he is kept alive by way of machine.
Eventually, Van Helsing exposes himself and reveals his true intentions to the monsters. On the last night, they all attend a rave-like party out on the ocean while Van Helsing holds the secret to wiping out the monsters once and for all. The key to getting rid of the monsters is a piece of sheet music that wakes up a deep sea monster, puts him in a trance, and makes him devour all of them. However, thanks to Mavis’ DJ husband (Andy Samberg), Van Helsing and the sea monster are defeated by the melodies of happy music.
For the storybook ending all of us love, the monsters forgive both Van Helsing and Ericka. Not only does Drac get to bring his lovely new girlfriend back to Transylvania, but he gets to make her his lovely fiancé!
Join the Drac-Pack on their vacation now in theaters! It’s going to be a trip.
By Taylor Finn, STYLE & SOCIETY
