My opinion right after watching the movie
My opinion right after watching this movie is that……. it’s just another Hotel Transylvania film. There is really nothing else to say. We all know that the plot is going to be thinner than a cartoon TV show, the characters still get no development or characterization, there is still going to be too many characters, hot or miss jokes, etc. Whatever.
Production
Before the second film‘s release in 2015, the people behind the movie made it known to the public that there was talks of a third film being in the works. Soon after that film’s release, it was announced that this film would be released on September 2018 (with it of course being pushed ahead a few months), but director Genndy Tartakovsky, and producer Michelle Murdocca did not think they would return, due to other projects. Tartakovsky ultimately came back to the film after coming from a miserable family vacation, which gave him inspiration.
Story
Right as the movie starts, I instantly notice that it is going to carry the trend of having poor pacing, with a bunch of filler to take up the relatively thin plot of the film. So the monsters are traveling to Budapest in disguise via train (in 1897), but an enemy of Dracula (Adam Sandler)’s named Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) exposes to everyone that they’re monsters, causing all of them to escape. In the present day, everything is going as usual, but Dracula is lonely, and is having trouble finding someone since his wife’s death. His daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) somehow misinterprets this as a need to go on a vacation, so everyone important/relevant goes on a vacation to the Bermuda Triangle via cruise.
Anyways, Ericka tries to kill him, but by no circumstance of his own doing, she fails. The family continues to have their fun, and she slowly starts to see them as a “cute family”, though continues to try and kill them. Dracula is encouraged to ask Ericka on a date, and she accepts, seeing this as an opportunity to finally get him.
The date takes place, and she ends up putting a bunch of garlic on the tacos they’re eating, but it ends up not being fatal. Dracula ends up telling her about being nervous, since it’s his first date since his wife passed away, which was when Mavis was an infant. Ericka actually starts to warm/open up, and confides about not knowing either of her parents, and the boat was all she’s known.
Anyways, the boat ends up on Atlantis, which is now a casino. Everyone is having fun, and Dracula sees Ericka run off. This causes him to follow her, and Mavis ends up following him.
He finds out that she is after some heirloom that has a bunch of traps, which he took all of the hits for. Mavis interrupts to try and do something to Ericka, until he blurts out that he zings her. The concept of “zing” is love at first sight, and they’re confused that it’s happening again, since it usually happens once. Ericka rejects him, since she can never be with a monster, and we get the heartbroken mess we see in every movie.
The heirloom makes it to her robot relative, and it’s to draw all of the monsters to dance in an area, as a trap for whatever bad thing to happen to them. Ericka reveals who she is, and everyone feels some type of way, due to her being the great granddaughter of his rival. As some octopus is about to kill Dracula, Ericka decides to stop it. Anyways, the typical stuff happens with the climax, and I really don’t care to recap it. Dracula ends up saving the great-grandfather, and they all become a happy family in the most contrived manner anyways. Oh, our main couple ends up engaged.
Characters
Uh…… there wasn’t really much character development, and most of the character did not really do much. We do learn a lot about Dracula’s prior wife, and Mavis’ mother, so that touch was nice. At the same time, I felt like a lot more could have been done with it, and was just used as a weak plotline for a weak love story. Ericka’s transformation is not believable, and was way too rushed for my liking, and the same for her great-grandfather. None of the other characters did anything worthy to discuss.
Animation
The animation in this movie is simply brilliant. Sony is known for their fast-paced and cartoony animation, and it once again works in the film. I really liked how they designed everything, and the motion is simply brilliant. Definitely contributes very well to the OTT, and alien-like feature of the movie, due to the out-of-human-world elements.
Music
I don’t really have much thoughts on the music of the film. Nothing really stood out, but did it’s job fine. The music in the other movies are a lot better, but…….. it’s still fine. Nothing bad, but nothing standout whatsoever.
Reception at Release
When the film was released on July 13th, it made $167.5 million domestically, and $358.4 million in other territories, adding up to a worldwide amount of $529.5 million. To date, it is the highest-grossing Hotel Transylvannia film, so I’m expecting there to be another sequel eventually. It is currently Sony Animation Pictures’ highest-grossing animated film, and is the first animated film to gross over $500 million that is not from Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Blue Sky, or Illumination since 2007.
Like its predecessors, it received mixed reviews, and I’m not going to speak much on it, since not much was said. What I gathered is that many people saw this as another Adam Sandler movie (and if you are aware of his rep…… it is not good), and was more episodic than even the prior two Hotel Transylvannia films.
Score
Story: 3/10
Characters: 3/10
Animation: 8/10
Music: 6/10
20/40 = 50%
animatedkid 
Yeah, this film was just filler-filled, stupid, and just…boring-ish at times. It’s what I expected from a 3rd entry of this franchise.