Review: Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation the goodtime goofing-off kids need

WITHOUT anyone really noticing — but obviously, a hell of a lot of people watching — the Hotel Transylvania series, with Adam Sandler lending his voice as Dracula, is one of the biggest animation franchises of the day.

WITHOUT anyone really noticing — but obviously, a hell of a lot of people watching — the Hotel Transylvania series has become one of the biggest animation franchises still on active duty.

The first two instalments have racked up almost $1.2 billion in box-office receipts worldwide, and the third looks set to spook up more big business this school holidays.

As is often the case, a lot of the freshness so abundant in the original is all but gone now from Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation.

Nevertheless, primary schoolers hard-pressed for decent alternatives currently on the market will get the goodtime goofing-off they need.

The only real hook in play here is a dramatic change of locale for the good-naturedly grotesque action.

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Eunice (Fran Drescher) and Frank (Kevin James), Dracula (Adam Sandler), Murray the Mummy (Keegan-Michael Key), Mavis (Selena Gomez), Jonathan (Andy Samberg) in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. Picture: Supplied.

Count Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) is getting jaded after running his luxury resort for ghouls, ghosts and gremlins for more than a century without a break.

So the family drag the beleaguered bloodsucker along on a holiday cruise, where romance beckons in the unlikely (and possibly suspicious) form of a chipper ship’s captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn).

The breezy pacing of Hotel Transylvania 3 certainly poses no problems, and it must be said that for an Adam Sandler-propelled vehicle, the comedian’s grosser tendencies (save for a flatulence gag or two) are held well in check.

However, those who appreciate quality animation on a technical level will definitely noticed a downgrading in visual flair from previous outings.

A bulk of the key scenes take place at night on the decks of the cruise liner, hardly a conducive atmosphere for haunting high-jinks.

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The crusie ship’s decking is not the atmosphere for haunting high-jinks.

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: A MONSTER VACATION (PG)

Rating: Two and a half stars (2.5 out of 5)

Director: Genndy Tartakovsy (Hotel Transylvania)

Starring: the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, David Spade, Selena Gomez, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Buscemi.

Drac cruises on a ship off the old block