Review: "Hotel Transylvania" is the Place for Surprises

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some rude humor, action and scary images
DIRECTOR: Genndy Tartakovsky
WRITERS: Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel; from a story by Todd Durham and Dan Hageman, and Kevin Hageman
PRODUCER: Michelle Murdocca
EDITOR: Catherine Apple
COMPOSER: Mark Mothersbaugh
Golden Globe nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY/FAMILY with elements of horror

Starring: (voices) Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, CeeLo Green, Jon Lovitz, Brian George, Lunell, Robert Smigel, Rob Riggle, Jim Wise, and Jackie Sandler

Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 3D computer-animated comedy and fantasy from Sony Pictures Animation. Distributed by Columbia Pictures, the film is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of such Cartoon Network animated series as Dexter’s Lab and Samurai Jack. Hotel Transylvania focuses on a version of Dracula who operates a resort outside the human world and who is an overprotective father of a teen-aged daughter.

After the death of his wife, Martha, Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) builds Hotel Transylvania, a high-end resort and hotel away from the human world. It serves two purposes. First, it is a place where the monsters of the world can be safe from humans, who want to kill them. Secondly, it is a place where Dracula can keep his daughter, Mavis Dracula (Selena Gomez), safe from the kind of humans who kill monsters.

For Mavis’ 118th birthday, Dracula throws a huge party and invites some of the most famous monsters. They are Frankenstein (Kevin James) and his wife, Eunice (Fran Drescher); Wayne Werewolf and his wife, Wanda (Molly Shannon); Murray the Mummy (CeeLo Green); and Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade), to name a few. Mavis, however, is looking for a big change in her life; she’s ready to see the world and really isn’t interested in a birthday party. Then, a 21-year-old human named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) stumbles into Hotel Transylvania and creates havoc. Dracula goes into overprotective mode, but Mavis finds herself attracted to the young man.

Although I’d heard some unfavorable things about the movie, I really liked Hotel Transylvania. It is a 3D cartoon that looks and acts like an old 2D cartoon, especially the cartoon shorts Tex Avery, whom director Genndy Tartakovsky mentioned in an interview about Hotel Transylvania. Hotel Transylvania also reminded me of the 1963 Bugs Bunny “Merrie Melodies” cartoon short, Transylvania 6-5000, which was directed by Chuck Jones (with Maurice Noble) and written by John Dunn. I can also see the influence of director Tim Burton and of Charles Addams, The New Yorker cartoonist best known for creating “The Addams Family.”

Influences aside, Hotel Transylvania is a lively, fun film. The character design by Carlos Grangel and Carter Goodrich recalls Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes cartoons (some of which the aforementioned Tex Avery directed). The production design (by Marcelo Vignali) turns Dracula’s private hotel/resort/home into a wonderland in which no two places really resemble each other.

Like Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler is a cartoon character as much as he is an actor, so it is no surprise that Sandler gives a voice performance as Count Dracula that is both layered and dynamic and cartoonish and wacky that it seems like a live-action performance. Andy Samberg almost matches him as Jonathan, and Selena Gomez makes Mavis more than just Daddy’s girl. The rest of the main cast also deliver excellent performances, with Kevin James creating a Frankenstein unlike any other and Grammy Award-wining singer-songwriter, CeeLo Green, sparkling as Murray the Mummy, a surprisingly good character.

I have not seen all of Genndy Tartakovsky work as a director of animated television series, but what I’ve seen, I’ve found to be exceptional, even great. Still, I’m surprised with the quality of his first feature film. Hotel Transylvania leaves me wanting more.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2013 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Film”

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Review: "Surf's Up" Has Impressive Animation

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 136 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Surf’s Up (2007) – computer animation
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – PG for mild language and some rude humor
DIRECTORS: Ash Brannon and Chris Buck
WRITERS: Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon and Chris Buck and Christopher Jenkins; from a story by Christopher Jenkins and Christian Darren with Lisa Addario and Joe Syracuse
PRODUCER: Christopher Jenkins
EDITORS: Ivan Bilancio and Nancy Frazen
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/COMEDY/SPORTS with elements of drama

Starring: (voices) Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, James Woods, Diedrich Bader, Mario Cantone, Brian Posehn, and Dana Belben

The subject of this movie review is Surf’s Up, a 2007 computer-animated film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. The film is a mock documentary or “mockumentary” (with This is Spinal Tap being the most famous example). It was one of three 2007 films to receive best animated feature Oscar nominations (a category Ratatouille won).

A documentary film crew follows a young penguin who loves to surf in Surf’s Up, the computer-animated film from Sony Pictures Animation (Open Season) which takes the notion that penguins invented surfing.

Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf) is not like the other penguins in Shiverpool, Antarctica. He’d rather surf than process fish all day. Opportunity arrives when he talks his way into the Big Z Memorial Surf-Off, an international surf tournament named in memory of Cody’s idol, the legendary surfing penguin, Zeke “Big Z” Topanga.

When Cody arrives on Pen Gu Island, he realizes that he doesn’t really fit in very well because he is a small wave surfer in a big wave event. He quickly earns the ire of a mouthy surfing promoter, a hedgehog named Reggie Belafonte (James Woods), and the 9-time reigning champion, the utterly arrogant penguin Tank “The Shredder” Evans (Diedrich Bader). Cody does manage to make a fast friend in Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), a surfing rooster from Michigan, and also attract the attention of sexy lifeguard, Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel). However, it’s when he meets the mysterious Geek (Jeff Bridges), a reclusive penguin who lives on the other side of the island that Cody learns there is more to discover in surfing than just how to win a tournament.

Although on the surface it resembles leftovers from the Oscar-winning computer-animated hit, Happy Feet (2006), Surf’s Up is actually a good film on its own. It is an entertaining comedy that not only has some really cool surfing scenes, but also has a nice message about friendship. Shia LaBeouf and Jeff Bridges have excellent chemistry, which may be due to the fact that the voice actors recorded their dialogue together in one room – a rarity in feature film animation. As the burnt-out, but wise teacher, Geek, and his stubborn pupil, Cody, Bridges and LaBeouf respectively add solid dramatic weight and traction to the characters’ relationship with their voice performances. Each actor brings both gentle sarcasm and humor to their roles, but they both know when to add a somber touch when the story calls for it.

As for the rest of the cast: Jon Heder manages to seem fresh, although even here he is pretty much playing the same kind of goofy dude part he’s been repeatedly playing for the last three years. Zooey Deschanel is always a nice presence – somehow managing to add a touch of sweetness to any film in which she appears. James Woods is shrill and his character, Reggie Belafonte, is way more annoying than he needs to be.

The aforementioned surfing scenes are surprisingly good – a testament to how supernaturally skilled these programmers, software guys, and animators who make computer-animated films are. That they make the surfing look so good with penguins on the surf boards adds to the amazement.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, November 10, 2007

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Ash Brannon and Chris Buck)

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"Open Season" is a Good Buddy Comedy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 49 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


Open Season (2006)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some rude humor, mild action, and brief language
DIRECTORS: Roger Allers and Jill Culton with Anthony Stacchi
WRITERS: Steve Bencich & Ron J. Friedman and Nat Maudlin; from a screen story by Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi; from an original story by Steve Moore and John Carls
PRODUCER: Michelle Murdocca
EDITORS: Ken Solomon and Pam Ziegenhagen

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring: (voices) Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Billy Connolly, Jon Favreau, Patrick Warburton, Gordon Tootoosis, Jane Krakowski, Georgia Engel, and Cody Cameron

Open Season is Sony Pictures Animation’s first computer-animated (or 3D animation) feature film. This fish-out-water, reluctant buddy movie is a likeable story, but the animation is truly the star here.

Boog (Martin Lawrence), a domesticated grizzly bear, lives the good life in the tranquil town of Timberline with his kindhearted surrogate mother, Beth (Debra Messing), who rescued Boog when he was a cub. One day, Boog rescues Eliot (Ashton Kutcher), a mule deer with one antler missing, from the clutches of Shaw (Gary Sinise), the local law breaking, fanatical hunter. Eliot follows Boog home to his cushy digs where he lives with Beth, but this reluctant new friendship lands Boog in a lot of trouble. Before he knows it, Boog is left out in the wild, completely unprepared to live in the real world. Suddenly Boog and Eliot are forced into a partnership, and they have to survive the start of open season or they and all the forest animals may end up mounted on some hunter’s wall.

With 2006 being a busy year for 3D animated films, Open Season stands out for two reasons. First, the voice performances are very good, in particular Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, and Gary Sinise. Lawrence mixes gruff charm, a slight ego, and a genial self-effacing attitude that makes Boog come across as a sort of everyman who is simply looking to enjoy his comfy life without making too many waves. Kutcher’s Eliot is the classic manic funnyman who is always in trouble and manages to drag an unsuspecting stranger down with him. Sinise’s Shaw is a great comic villain, and he gives a fine performance by making his recognizable voice unrecognizable.

The animation is very good, and immediately had my attention. The character motion is fluid, and the movement of objects within the sets (car chases, floods, battle scenes, etc.) is spectacular. Sony Pictures Animation manages to duplicate the “squash and stretch” effect (think classic Looney Tunes and MGM cartoon shorts) of DreamWorks’ Madagascar with the kind of lush colors Pixar delivers in films like Finding Nemo and Cars. The characters are rubbery and flexible, and that adds to the comedy, especially in big action scenes (like the “dam break” and the battle between the forest animals and hunters). Open Season’s color palette perfectly recreates a lush autumn forest and the comforting earth tones of the great outdoors.

Open Season makes the buddy action comedy seem new by setting it as a delightful animal fable with lots of sassy banter and gentle innuendo. The animation captures the eye because it imitates the best of earlier 3D cartoon features, but also manages to be its own new thing. The characters are endearing, and Boog and Eliot make an excellent animation comedy pair, but this beautiful animation with its idiosyncratic visual style is something to remember.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, March 11, 2007