It’s time again for this critic to dress down the movie industry for its unwillingness to greenlight any new movie concepts, relying instead safely, lazily on tried and tired ideas in the form of the sequel and its cousins, the reboot and the reimagining. I could say that in 2018, we have reached peak sequel, but I fear Hollywood can and will clear even this astronomically high bar.
“Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” opens this week, the third chapter in an animated movie series better suited for streaming than the cineplex. So far this year, we have been offered sequels to Pacific Rim, Gnomeo & Juliet, Super Troopers, Ocean’s Eleven, The Purge, Sicario, plus additional entries from Disney’s three horsemen of the big screen apocalypse Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm. And that’s just through early July.
It’s unsurprising when an animated film gets multiple sequels. The characters are conceptualized and drawn, templates are already made and it’s cheaper to re-use intellectual property than to create anew.
But it’s not just animation that’s caught the replication bug this year. Coming soon to a theater near you: additional installments of The Equalizer, Unfriended and Mamma Mia (all three opening on the same weekend in a preposterous train wreck of a sequel battle royale), Mission Impossible, Goosebumps, The Jungle Book, Johnny English, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fantastic Beasts, Creed, Wreck-It Ralph, Transformers and the DC Universe’s newest addition to the evidence pile of why they aren’t as good as the Marvel folks, Aquaman.
And topping it all off, at the end of the year, they’re sequelizing (if it isn’t a verb, it very well should be) Mary freakin’ Poppins.
And let’s not forget the reboots and reimaginings on the docket — The Predator, Halloween, Robin Hood, A Star is Born, The Grinch, Spiderman (animated), and yet another Sherlock adaptation called Holmes and Watson, which may or may not be a workplace rom-com.
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Moreover, here are a few movies to come that just sound like sequels if you squint a little — The Spy who Dumped Me (starring an uncanny valley version of Roger Moore as 007), Alpha (prequel to Beta), Widows (sequel to Widow) and Mile 22 (the highly anticipated conclusion to Mile 20 and Mile 21, of course).
OK, off the soapbox. Let’s address the matter of “Transylvania.” As far as cartoon movies go, this one is as safe and shallow as a kiddie pool. The undead hotelier Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his monster crew go on a much needed vacation on a luxury cruise ship bound for the Bermuda Triangle and the lost city of Atlantis.
Humor comes from the cute hijinks provided by famous creatures such as the aforementioned vampire plus the Wolfman (Steve Buscemi), the Mummy (Keegan-Michael Key), Frankenstein’s monster (Kevin James) and his bride (Fran Drescher), the Invisible Man (David Spade), the Blob, and more. To its credit, this is probably better than anything Universal could have cooked up with their so-called Dark Universe franchise that began and likely ended prematurely with last year’s “The Mummy.”
There is absolutely nothing new here, but children will very much enjoy “Transylvania.” There are some excellent visual highlights and some good lessons on getting along with your fellow monster. There’s a love story, a redemption tale and blessedly, no cliffhanger or hint of another impending sequel.
But let’s face it, will anyone be shocked to see “Hotel Transylvania 4ever” in a couple of years?
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.