The film begins in the late 19th century. Dracula greets his baby daughter, Mavis. He also spends time with her.

A little time has passed, and Mavis is now a young child. Dracula teaches her how to transform into a bat. He also promises to protect her from the dangers of humans. After all, people were responsible for her mother’s death when she was an infant.

The story switches to the present day. Dracula is trying to plan a party for Mavis’s 118th birthday. That is likely the equivalent to a human’s 18th year.

To hide from people, though, Dracula opens a hotel exclusively for paranormal monsters and creatures. He goes to Mavis’s room, where he discovers what she wants for her birthday. That is to go out and explore.

Dracula, however, worries about that. But he lets Mavis get her wish. So, she turns into a bat and flies to a nearby village.

While there, she tries to be friendly with the locals. But the “people” are trying to hurt her.

Dracula comes to check on her. She apologizes and says that he was right about humans.

Not long after, though, a young human man named Jonathan comes into the hotel. He shocks everyone there.

But when Dracula sees him, he disguises him as a monster. So far, that goes okay.

Jonathan and Mavis meet each other. Mavis develops feelings for him. But Dracula tries to keep him away from her.

At some point, Jonathan meets Frankenstein. Dracula lies to Frankenstein and says that Jonathan, or Jonny (what he is going to be called moving forward), is Frankenstein’s distant cousin. Frankenstein eventually believes that.

Mavis and Jonny spend more time together. Dracula has everyone think that Jonny is helping him plan Mavis’s birthday bash. Crazy things happen during Jonny’s visit.

The party eventually occurs. The guests are doing different activities.

Mavis and Jonny are also hanging out. But Dracula wants to get rid of Jonny.

Dracula has Jonny fake back pain. Yet everyone mistakes his phrase for getting on others’ backs.

Worried about Mavis getting in trouble with her father, Jonny pretends to hate her because she’s a vampire. Poor Mavis is now heartbroken.

If that’s not bad enough, Dracula confesses that he had the zombies pretend to be humans attacking Mavis in the village because he was scared. That upsets Mavis.

Dracula also reveals that Jonny is a person, which scares everyone else.

What will happen next?

I will admit that this movie didn’t engage me as much as I hoped. Yes, some parts were funny and made me laugh. But the film was otherwise kind of dull.

Not only that, but some parts were also gross. For example, at the beginning, when Mavis was a baby, Dracula was changing her diaper. And too much was shown. I know – that’s a big part of having a child. But I think that moment was overdone.

There was also a scene where someone farted green gas and where there was a puddle of urine. Since this is supposed to be family friendly, I wish those parts were edited.

On the bright side, this movie did have perks, too. For instance, I admired Mavis’s relationship with Jonny. After all, she longed to interact with someone equivalent to her stage of life.

Dracula was also likable. Even though he was overprotective, he wasn’t harsh. He was calm, patient, and even loving.

The concept was also creative as were the other characters. Aside from Dracula and Frankenstein, there were werewolves, skeletons, zombies, and much more. There were also witches used for housekeeping.

The last several minutes of the movie also got better. More tension and action happened. Don’t worry – I won’t spoil the ending.

I will also say that the pacing was pretty quick. The film is only around an hour and a half long.

Overall, though, I considered Hotel Transylvania just okay. I think the drawbacks and benefits were pretty much even.

I give this film 3 out of 5 stars.