It’s spooky season, right? Not only that, it’s Halloween!
My personal dislike of scary movies leads my spooky night viewing to be a kid’s movie from over a decade ago. That length of time alone is scary enough. I say dislike… I don’t do scary, okay? I prefer my heart to stay within my chest, and my soul within my body. Movies should be calming, or at worst tear-inducing.
As with all Random Rambles installations we’re going to just dive into this one and see where it takes us.
Vampires Introduced
Point One: Count Dracula is the best character in this whole movie, and he’s voiced by Adam Sandler!
Point Two: This is a top tier cast throughout, including the likes of Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg and Steve Buscemi, amongst many others.
Point Three: I realised in rewatching this brilliant movie this weekend that it was probably some of the first vampire related content I ever watched.
In the simplest terms, I like vampires. I will watch many things for the simple factor that they include vampires. It is the second reason next to it being immensely queer that I watched Carmilla, and then read the book. It is the only reason I entertained Twilight, and The Originals and looked into The Vampire Diaries. I will watch many things for their association with vampires and the realisation that the first vampire I first grew an affection for was Count Dracula of Hotel Transylvania, the over protective father, owner of a Hotel for Monsters, and of an impossibly sleek stature voiced by Adam Sandler of all people is… one I did not see coming to say the least.
So, quickly, a brief history with me!
Hotel Transylvania was The Movie of my childhood. Some kids loved Shrek, some Frozen, some whatever may have come up. For me, the obsession of my childhood brain was Hotel Transylvania. To the extent I had watched it so many times I could quote along with it and went to see the second for one of my Birthday’s. I loved this movie. Like a lot.
I had not watched it in a while, when I sat down this weekend to watch it with some friends, and my conclusions from this rewatch?
- Drac is still the best.
- The final song is still a bop.
- And I had not noticed how much it relied on potty humour as a kid.
Rewatching this movie was not a wasted effort, I still adore it, as it turns out. I am, however, a little in shock of mostly myself at the mere prospect that Drac was the first vampire I loved… he sparked my whole love for them! And though I love a good lesbian vampire, them being my preferred genre of bloodsucker… the overprotective father brought me here! Comical shock, I assure you.
Extreme Fatherly Love
Hotel Transylvania, as it goes, is primarily about Drac. Almost the entire movie is told from his perspective, with some minor allowances giving us a look into Mavis perspective of the situation. It’s main arc, though, is a journey of fatherly growth for Drac.
It’s a story told throughout many iterations in media. The one of having to let your child learn to fly for themselves, let them grow, let them make mistakes and discover and become an adult. Drac has to learn to let go.
Of course, he very understandably is hesitant to do so on account of the fact Humans Killed His Wife. 118 Years ago, sure, but he’s immortal… There’s definitely a reason Mavis turning 118 is treated as if she’s turning 18. For Drac, it’s been the equivalent time passage of twenty years compared to his long life. That doesn’t mean it hurt any less. That doesn’t mean he’s healed any better. He lost the love of his life, and it ACHES. It’s done so for over a century.
His backstory is tragic, and he has a justifiable amount of reasons for his hesitance in terms of letting Mavis out into the real world, regardless of her desire to do so. If I was Drac, I too would hide away for centuries and be unwilling to send my only daughter out into the same world that murdered her mother. My man built a whole hotel to keep her safe. Overprotective, yes, but he’s doing it right, and extravagantly. It’s not like she was in some cellar in the woods. There was a buffet, a pool, and a sauna! She presumably had multiple friends, of varying species. In fact, the only species not invited to this kooky and glamorous hotel were the ones who murdered Martha. She was not lacking in her hidden away life, she just craved adventure and independence. Understandably so, she appears to be the vampire equivalent of a teenager, why wouldn’t she want to spread her tiny bat wings?
So, comes along Johnny, to start to show Drac that the world has changed in a century, which he clearly does not think it has.
Regardless of his slideshow near the start of the movie of modern-day humans and their new methods of monster murder, it’s clear from the rest of the movie that Drac is rather distant from the rest of the world and stuck in his ways. Now, when you hide away for a century this is sure to happen. There are several references made to his tendency to be in control of things, and from the activities he’s planned which include charades, bingo, and music performed by Mozart and Beethoven… Drac is not a modern vamp. He’s old, dude. Probably centuries old for that matter, but is characterised as the out of touch, and deeply loving overprotective father that he is. He may not be ‘down with the kids’ but he sure as hell is full of tons of love for his only daughter.
Johnny shows him that fun has been redefined, allows him to laugh, and that not all humans are the same. Drac may confide his past to Johnny in an attempt to show him why he wants Johnny to leave, but the fact he tells Johnny at all is already a sign that he’s starting to change. He saves Johnny from being cooked alive and lets him come to the party because Mavis likes him. Then, he changes everything for Mavis, because she ‘Zinged’, and he remembers what it feels like to ‘Zing’, so of course, he brings him back. His friends, who he is shown to have betrayed by hiding Johnny from them, help him to do so, because they get it too.
The ‘Zing’ in this monster world is equivalent to Once Upon A Time‘s one True Love. It may not hold many degrees of magic, but it does hold importance and rarity. To have ‘Zinged’ is to be tied to one another, for it only happens once. How can he take something he cherished so much, as to build a hotel in her honour to protect their daughter, from that daughter?
So, he may have been overprotective, but he recognises that the world has changed in his absence, he recognises that Mavis has to learn her lessons on her own, she has to spread her wings, and he should not stand in the way of that or her ‘Zing’. He risks his life to get Johnny back, and discovers that at the very least the town of Transylvania has not only changed, but now celebrates ‘monsters’ like him. It may be an animated kid’s movie but Drac burning up outside that plane to get his daughter’s ‘Zing’ back will nearly bring me to tears every time. I well up! It’s a very heartfelt apology. He’s changed, he understands now.
Of course, he does scream when they try to kiss, but change is gradual, and he admits he’s just going to have to get used to that and leaves them alone. He’s also encouraged her to go out into the world! The lessons we learn from redheaded twenty-year-olds. Who could’ve guessed?
Closing Songs
That final song is an absolute bop and I will not be taking opinions. It’s brilliant.
The choice to have Drac sing what I think falls into the hip-hop or rap genre? He’s a modern man now! Where he may have previously gone for blues or classical, he now turns the tempo up and raps like his life depends on it. What a great way to show the conclusion of a character’s arc in music form in a kid’s movie!
Thanks
In terms of closing remarks from me, I entirely intend to watch the rest of the movies when I get my hands on them. I still very much love the first one, and I’m sure I will love the next ones as I did before. Drac is one of the greatest vampires in my personal opinion, and his awesome Selena Gomez voiced daughter is hardly far behind. Definitely beats he who sparkles, which by the way was briefly referenced in the iconic plane scenes. I have seen numerous vampiric depictions that call attention to the sparklers in a joke, including our dear Carmilla and Drac here. I’m not against this genre’s running joke, it’s a fun one.
As per! Thank you for sticking through this little post. I hope it was good fun. I do believe it is the first movie to grace this feed, and the first animation, so hey! It’s a post of firsts!
It’s got vampires, it’s got monsters so I’m calling it spooky enough for Halloween. I do hope you enjoyed this special Halloween edition of Random Rambles, and I do so hope you will join me for the next one, whenever that may be.
With that said, Hotel Transylvania can currently be streamed on Netflix and NowTV in the UK. I highly recommend you check it out, for a piece of Halloween viewing that doesn’t leave you scared to sleep at night. For monsters and ghouls, it’s beautifully wholesome.
Thank you again! I’ll see you in the next one!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, narratives or characters present or referenced in this post. All rights belong to Sony Pictures and all other relevant parties.