This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
When Van Helsing’s mysterious invention, the “Monsterfication Ray,” goes haywire, Drac and his monster pals are all transformed into humans, and Johnny becomes a monster! In their new mismatched bodies, Drac, stripped of his powers, and an exuberant Johnny, loving life as a monster, must team up and race across the globe to find a cure before it’s too late, and before they drive each other crazy.
For in-depth thoughts on Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, please see my colleague Dom Fisher’s review from its original streaming release here.
Video Quality
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania comes to Blu-Ray with a dazzling 1080p transfer. The level of care and detail these animators put into every unique environment shines through here. Black levels are incredibly strong with no hint of compression artifacts or digital anomalies of the sort. Viewers are treated to a vibrant array of colors that radiate off the screen with the wide range of hues permeating every inch of the frame. The textures, from the character designs to the environments, are impressive and give the film a real sense of depth. The fluidity of the character designs is one of the reasons this film stands out in high definition. You really cannot expect much more from a modern animated film on Blu-Ray.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray makes an impact with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that gives this story a magnificent presentation. Dialogue comes through clearly without ever getting overshadowed by the competing music or sound effects. This track leans prominently on the front channels for a good portion of the sounds, but activity extends to the surrounds and rears during the more kinetic and action-oriented bits along with the musical soundscape.
The low end effects from the subwoofer give certain sequences that extra kick to ramp up the fun. Music maintains a peerless fidelity as it fills up the room. Atmospheric sound effects are rendered creatively within the mix so that directionality is never an issue. Sony has maintained a great audio experience for this one. There are optional English, English SDH, French, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles provided.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Directors Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska, Editor Lynn Hobson and Head of Character Animation Alan Hawkins provide a pretty decent commentary track in which they discuss the challenges of making this film during the pandemic, this next chapter in the story, the “famous closets” they got to see during recording and more.
- Monster Pets – A Hotel Transylvania Short: A new six-minute short in which Drac has to find a companion for Tinkles to play with that is pretty amusing.
- Monster Mash-Up – Making Hotel Transylvania: Transformania: A six-minute piece in which the cast and creative team discuss the appeal of the franchise, the creation of this newest installment, the traits of the characters, the journeys they go on and more.
- Hotel Transyl-Trivia: A three-minute round of trivia between Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez.
- Monster Box Challenge!: A minute-long challenge with Samberg and Gomez.
- “Love Is Not Hard To Find” Lyric Video: A two-and-a-half minute video of the song from Yendry.
- Previews
Final Thoughts
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is a pretty decent new installment in this ongoing franchise which delivers some amusing and heartfelt moments yet never feels completely essential. It is not only due to the absence of some of the higher profile voice talent like Adam Sandler, as his replacement sounds enough like him for it not to be jarring for longtime fans. It is more so due to the familiarity of the themes that have been touched on more successfully in previous films, leaving this one to feel a bit perfunctory. Fans will still have fun going on another journey with these characters, but the franchise is quickly losing steam. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray featuring a magnificent A/V presentation and a few good supplemental materials. If you love the franchise, you will at least have a good time with this entry.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
