Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania review

The fourth instalment in the Hotel Transylvania series, Transformania has an entertaining premise – the monsters find themselves turned into humans – but never quite delivers the laughs you would expect from such a neat twist.

As Drac (now voiced by Hull, taking over from Adam Sandler) celebrates the anniversary of his monster hotel, he prepares to retire and hand over the keys to his daughter Mavis (Gomez). However, that means his bumbling human son-in-law (Samberg), would also be in charge, so at the last minute Drac has second thoughts and tells Johnny it can’t happen because Johnny isn’t a monster.

Luckily for Johnny, Professor Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) has a ‘monsterfication ray’ that turns humans into monsters, but due to a few disasters Johnny is not the only one who undergoes a transformation. While Johnny becomes a goofy dragon-like creature, the ray also turns Drac into a balding, middle aged human along with his friends Frankenstein (who becomes a hunk), Murray the mummy, Wayne the werewolf, Griffin the invisible man and Blobby the, erm, blob.

Unfortunately, the ray gun needs a new crystal to work again so that the crew can turn themselves back into monsters (and Johnny into a human) and the only place to find the crystal is on the other side of the world, leading to an adventure for the Drac Pack and their families as they go to retrieve it.

While the idea is fun and it’s a giggle seeing the monsters’ human selves (the best gag involves Blobby but is sadly revealed on the movie poster), there are very few other laughs in the movie.

And it doesn’t help the film that Johnny, who is the franchise’s most annoying character, is front and centre, although at least he proves slightly less irritating when he becomes a grunting green dragon.

Lacking in gags, fun or even minor scares, this is the final instalment in the series (which is probably wise) and one for Hotel Transylvania fans only.