Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 29, 2023

The Hotel Transylvania series now spans four feature-length films spanning more than a decade of time (Hotel Transylvania, Hotel Transylvania 2, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation), a decade of affable and fun yet decidedly midrange digital mediocrity. The films are popular enough to warrant a growing canon but they're hardly in the business of telling memorable stories with compelling characters (a la Pixar), favoring instead an abundance of color and goofiness to sell the wares. That's proven enough to make what is now a no harm, no foul sort of franchise that, since the first debuted, has probably lost many of the original fans to time and age but maintains enough freshness with each new release to bring in newcomers to the franchise and keep the box office and legacy movie sales revenue up (however, this film's numbers are skewered due to the pandemic and the film's sale to Amazon).

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.

The plot here is actually somewhat inventive. As the title an the plot summary suggests, the characters transform into something akin to their opposites: human to monster and monster to human. That adds a whole new level of dynamic zaniness, but of course even in their differences the characters come to know one another much better than before when everything still existed in the status quo. The story speaks to the "accept you for you" theme and it's a natural fit for this franchise with the preestablished, diverse array of characters, including monsters and humans, of all shapes and sizes and colors, so this just adds another element to the mix but does so in a way that works even better than normal thanks to three movies worth of preestablished character dynamics to play on and against.

The film certainly hits on all technical cylinders. The voice cast remains a highlight, and even with the change from Adam Sandler to Brian Hull as the voice of Drac, the franchise doesn't miss a beat. The voice work is enthusiastic and realistic and, with the general stability around the primary characters, there's a good bit of comfort and natural attentiveness to small details and inflections that fans will appreciate. The digital animation is absolutely top of the class. While it aims for more of a cartoony look rather than a more realistic look, the style fits the franchise and the narrative perfectly. The craftmanship here of both new and returning monsters and characters is first-rate and the film, and the series, is a testament to the excellence that has been achieved over the past decade or so in the realm of digital animation. This is good stuff.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It should come as no surprise when a modern digital animation looks just about perfect on Blu-ray, and that is the case with Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, a Sony Blu-ray that gives not even the most persnickety viewer the slightest reason for concern. Thre picture is healthy and lively and a beacon for high end digital animation done, and looking, right. The picture is clear and sharp and seems to reveal the finest textural nuances the digital animation has to offer. Whether character models, animal fur, goo, castle interiors, or any of the odds and ends in the film, everything looks as pristine, clean, efficient, and wonderous as one could possibly imagine. The picture is abundantly colorful and offers excellent tonal stability, plenty of pop and life, and full-yield color saturation. Everything is brilliantly displayed on the screen. Here is where HDR would have really blown the doors off the home experience, but even under the SDR parameters there is no defying the film's color explosion and balance in practically every frame. Black levels are rich, whites are brilliant, and this one just never disappoints. Add freedom from any obvious source of encode issues and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania easily stands as one of the best-looking Blu-ray releases on the market for 2023.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack for Hotel Transylvania: Transformania sounds wonderful. The track offers plenty of discrete natural atmospheric effects -- rain, thunder, and the like -- so that listeners will always feel pulled into the world, while localized audio cues inside the castle also spring to life with incredibly rich and satisfying environmental immersion that allows listeners to hear every audible detail the sound engineers have so painstakingly inserted into the track. Additionally, musical clarity is wonderful, right from the opening song in the first minute, and there is no mistaking the absolute clarity at work, the perfect definition to be heard, the expert spacing, and just the right amount of bass. The track is so clear and full that listeners will be able to pinpoint even the finest orchestral cues. The track is very large and very exciting. It's loud at reference volume but not overly so. It's ambitious and immersive without coming across as obnoxiously so. It's everything a modern 5.1 track could be, and it pushes the limits of the 5.1 configuration to the maximum for fullness as well as detail. Dialogue is also clear, well prioritized, and centered for the duration. This is audio perfection!

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Hotel Transylvania: Transformania includes a standard suite of extras, including a commentary, making-of's, a lyric video, and a couple of fun fluff pieces. No DVD copy is included, but Sony has bundled in a Movies Anywhere digital copy voucher. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Monster Pets: A Hotel Transylvania Short (1080p, 5:51): The seemingly now-obligatory short film associated with an animated feature. This one looks at Drac's relationship with Tinkles, his oversized dog, and the search to find it a new playmate.
• Monster Mash-Up: Making Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (1080p, 6:08): A look at the franchise's appeal, voice cast, characters, plot themes and character details in this film, and story and franchise themes.
• Hotel Transyl-Trivia (1080p, 2:55): Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez quiz one another on the Hotel universe.
• Audio Commentary: Directors Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska, Editor Lynn Hobson, and Head of Character Animation Alan Hawkins discuss the making of the movie with a good bit of technical detail and anecdotal stories from the making of the film, including, interestingly, making the film during lockdown.
• Monster Box Challenge! (1080p, 0:54): Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez blindly reach inside a box and try to name the movie related objects by touch alone.
• Lyric Video (1080p, 2:37): "Love Is Not Hard to Find."
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is another in the growing line of "no harm, no foul" movies from this series. It remains as colorfully zany as ever, with beloved characters experiencing a new side of life but really only deepening their understanding of self and love for one another in their sudden changes of appearance and circumstances. Even if it won't be the greatest movie ever, bring on number 5! Sony's Blu-ray is very good, delivering tip-top video and audio presentations and a good selection of bonus content. Recommended.