The third entry in this Adam Sandler monster mash is so cute and cuddly, one wonders why Van Helsing (v. Jim Gaffigan) and his great-granddaughter, Ericka (v. Kathryn Hahn), are so hell-bent on hunting them. The last of the famed monster-hunting family concocts a monster cruise to lure Drac (v. Sandler), Mavis (v. Selena Gomez) and their monstrous friends and family—Frank (v. Kevin James), Wayne the Werewolf (v. Steve Buscemi), Griffin the Invisible Man (v. David Spade), Murray the Mummy (v. Keegan-Michael Key), Drac’s dad Vlad (v. Mel Brooks) and more—to their doom. 

Kids will laugh, but it kind of stinks that the Hotel Transylvania films are the only animated features Genndy Tartakovsky has gotten to make. None of the three movies have anything that wrong with them, but you could replace the monsters without changing much else besides the locale. Hotel Pluto run by aliens would be exactly the same movie. The concept has potential, and the movies could be more interesting if they really dug into their inner Toy Story to depict what monsters get up to when no humans are around. However, that narrative would require the monsters to actually have a monstrous side; to date, there is nothing particularly hideous about Sandler’s Prince of Darkness.