Sunday, February 24, 2013

"Hotel Transylvania"



So, it’s a Saturday and we needed groceries, which means time to stop at Redbox.

When I wrote about “Beautiful Creatures”, I described something of the thought / discussion process my wife and I go through when choosing what to see at our local multiplex on the off chance the grandparents will babysit. However, when we stop at the Redbox, the considerations are reduced to three questions: what do we want to watch with the kiddo; what are we going to be able to stay awake for after we put him to bed; and what am I interested in watching that my wife isn’t that I can watch in the morning when I wake up at 5am before everyone else is up?

This time, the answer to the second question was ‘nothing’, the answer to the third question I’ll give sometime in the next few days, but the answer to the first was “Hotel Transylvania”.

Over the years, and, especially more recently, I've come to expect a certain quality (or lack thereof) from Adam Sandler vehicles, and, particularly after the public reception of Jack And Jill (which, when I first saw the trailer, I thought it was some kind of elaborate joke that he was playing on the public instead of an actual movie . . . Turns out it was both), my expectations were sufficiently low.  Shoulda known better.

The problem with Adam Sandler movies is one of inconsistency. Actors who manage to have a career of lead roles tend to fall into certain patterns.  When Tom Cruise or Billy Crystal or Katherine Heigl do a movie, they’re always the same. When Johnny Depp or Christian Bale do a movie, they’re always someone different, but they maintain that consistency. Even actors who develop a split career, consistently being one type of character for one type of movie or genre, and a different type of character for a different type of movie or genre. Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey are each either an over the top, ridiculous caricature, or an ordinary schlub in either a ridiculous or serious/dramatic situation.

But Adam Sandler has a habit of departing inconsistently from his standard role ("Punch Drunk Love" and "Reign Over Me", both of which are excellent, but are nothing like a typical Sandler flick), or taking his standard role and putting a twist on it (the endings of both "The Wedding Singer" and "Click" are both uncharacteristically heartfelt, and "Funny People" gets into some pretty heavy drama while poking fun at Sandler's own career). What is evident is that, when he tries, or when he has the right director to reign him in, Adam Sandler is a capable talent. That is, as long as he isn't too busy doing stupid jokes.

While Sandler's influence definitely shows through (particularly in the songs), it complements well the humor of its writer, Robert Smigel, and is powerfully tempered by the film's stylistic director, Genndy Tartakovsky. Smigel is best known for his "TV Funhouse" animated sketches on "Saturday Night Live", such as the "Ambiguously Gay Duo". He has also been a writer for Conan O'Brien, and the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog ('for me to poop on!'). Smigel's influence, however, manifests itself in simple jokes and dialog. The overall tone, pacing and technique of the film are, to anyone familiar with his work, uniquely Tartakovsky’s.

Any kids who grew up through the nineties with Cartoon Network probably remember some of Tartakovsky’s most notable creations, namely “Dexter’s Laboratory” and “Powerpuff Girls”, but at the turn of the century, Tartakovsky’s work for Cartoon Network took a darker and more serious turn, first with “Samurai Jack”, then, in between the theatrical releases of Star Wars: Episodes 2 and 3, with the ‘micro-series’ “Star Wars: Clone Wars” (not to be confused with the CGI series which airs presently), an experiment whose individual episodes were only 5 minutes in length. While “Hotel Transylvania” signifies two firsts for Tartakovsky, namely his first CGI work, and his feature length directorial debut, his signature style permeates the film.

As for the film itself, although it is not a Pixar film (it was produced and released by Sony Pictures Animation), it has many of the earmarks of a Pixar film. It’s bookends of a tragic opening and a celebratory denouement, it’s focus on family, attention to detail, imaginative action sequences, and it’s wide, spanning, epic, beautiful visuals have all become hallmarks to the films of Pixar. While the humor of the story is both more blue and more literalist than the humor of pixar films tends to be, this, in my mind at least, is the first film by a rival animation studio in years to compete in quality of story and storytelling that Pixar has shown in years.  I know that Sony has Tartakovsky contracted for at least one more film, which, I feel, is smart on their part. If they are as smart as I think they are, all evidence of “The Smurfs” to the contrary, they’ll keep him under contract and happy.

My only problem with the film was the song at the end. When “Shrek” featured a cover of “I’m A Believer” as a finale, I took it in stride.  When “Shrek 2” boasted, as a finale, a duet of Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas covering “Livin’ La Vida Loca”, it felt completely out of place. But having Adam Sandler, as Dracula, rapping with, as his daughter, Selena Gomez, as a finale was . . . indescribable. While I loved the rest of the original music throughout the film, both the songs by Adam Sandler, and the score by Mark Mothersbaugh (film composer and former lead singer of ‘DEVO’), this finale was the most over the top and out of place I’ve seen for an animated film - ever.

Otherwise, if you’re at the Redbox tonight, looking for something to watch with the kids, pick it up.

For a buck and a half, it’s worth a watch.

No comments:

Post a Comment