Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania (2022) starring Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez

In Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania, Count Dracula wants to retire. He plans to give Hotel Transylvania to Mavis and Johnny. But Johnny’s plans for changing the hotel cause Drac to change his mind …. And lie to Johnny about the reason. This is the snowball rolling down the hill that threatens to become an avalanche and cause massive destruction!

Synopsis

Since the alleged reason that Drac won’t give the hotel to Johnny & Mavis is that Johnny’s human … Van Helsing can help with that! He has a mad scientist invention that can turn humans to monsters …. And vice versa. Soon, Johnny’s turned into a dragon-like monster, while most of the monsters that we’re used to are turned human. But the mutation keeps on mutating …

Pros

• Much of the film deals with bonding between Drac and his son-in-law Johnny. Which is very sweet. “You are my marshmallow“.
• I love how Frank is the only one of the monsters who likes his new, human, appearance, And he becomes quite vain. And his wife’s completely revolted by his looks! But she still loves him. It’s funny and sweet.
• My favorite moment isn’t the many comedy moments with Drac having to deal with humanity — although it’s very funny. Or the very sweet “marshmallow” discussion that Drac and Johnny have in the jungle — although it’s spot-on, and very sweet. It’s the now-vain Frank, still stepping up to help his niece, Mavis, towards the end. “Hey, kiddo.” It’s absolutely heart warming.
• Wayne “hiding” from his kids and Wanda. “I’m not laughing, Wayne.”

Cons

• A lot of people are upset that several of the voice actors are changed. That’s a valid issue.
• My biggest issue is that we’ve seen this story before. It feels like multiple times, by now.
• I swear, we don’t need to see Griffin’s butt. I know this is aimed at 15 year old boys but, I haven’t been in that age range for a long time. And it’s way overdone.
• Drac’s lying comes back to bite him …. Again.

Cast of characters

• Andy Samberg (Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation) … Jonathan (voice)
• Selena Gomez (Hotel Transylvania) … Mavis (voice)
• Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision) … Ericka (voice)
• Jim Gaffigan (Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation) … Van Helsing (voice)
• Steve Buscemi (Hotel Transylvania 2) … Wayne (voice)
• Molly Shannon (Hotel Transylvania 2) … Wanda (voice)
• David Spade (The Emperor’s New Groove) … Griffin (voice)
• Keegan-Michael Key (Toy Story 4) … Murray (voice)
• Brian Hull … Dracula (voice)
• Fran Drescher (UHF, The Nanny) … Eunice (voice)
• Brad Abrell (Men in Black) … Frank (voice)
• Asher Blinkoff (Hotel Transylvania 2) … Dennis (voice)
• Zoe Berri (Hotel Transylvania 2) … Winnie (voice)
• Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory) … Blobby (voice)

Trivia

• The first Hotel Transylvania film in the franchise not to be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.
• Adam Sandler and Kevin James were in the first three films. But they were replaced by Brian Hull and Brad Abrell in this film. CeeLo Green was in the first film before he was replaced by Keegan-Michael Key in all three sequels.

[Updated September 2, 2023]