Adam Sandler
Count Dracula (voice)
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
“He's going to need a vacation after this vacation.”
2018
1h 37m
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Overview
Dracula, Mavis, Johnny and the rest of the Drac Pack take a vacation on a luxury Monster Cruise Ship, where Dracula falls in love with the ship’s captain, Ericka, who’s secretly a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing, the notorious monster slayer.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
5 min readThe Cruise Ship That Never Docks
I’ve seen Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation three times now—once with my niece, once alone in a half-empty theater, and once at 2 a.m. on a laptop while fighting insomnia. Each time, I’ve noticed the same thing: the movie is a sugar rush that never crashes. It doesn’t linger in the way great films do, but it doesn’t bore either.
It’s the cinematic equivalent of a cruise ship buffet—endless, colorful, and just filling enough to keep you going until the next distraction.
That’s not an insult. There’s something oddly admirable about a movie that refuses to slow down, even when it should. Genndy Tartakovsky, the man behind Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory, has always been a master of kinetic energy, and here he applies that same elastic, hyperactive style to a story about Dracula falling in love on a monster-themed cruise.
The result is a film that moves like a pinball, ricocheting from one gag to the next with such velocity that you barely have time to question whether any of it makes sense.
The premise is simple: Dracula, still recovering from the emotional whiplash of his daughter Mavis’s marriage to a human, is tricked into taking a family vacation on a luxury monster cruise. The ship’s captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), is a dead ringer for his late wife—and also, unbeknownst to him, the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, the monster hunter who’s been trying to kill him for centuries. What follows is a mix of slapstick, romantic farce, and a third-act dance battle that feels like it was lifted from a Step Up movie but with more fangs.
The animation is where Hotel Transylvania 3 shines brightest. Tartakovsky’s background in hand-drawn animation gives the film a fluidity that most CG movies lack. The monsters stretch, squash, and contort in ways that feel tactile, as if they’re made of rubber rather than pixels.
When Dracula does his signature "bat transformation," his body doesn’t just morph—it melts, like a candle left in the sun. The cruise ship itself is a marvel of design, a floating neon palace where every corner seems to hide a new visual gag. One moment, you’re in a tiki bar where the drinks are served in skulls; the next, you’re in a disco where the DJ is a Kraken spinning records with its tentacles.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.3/10
"A colorful, energetic family comedy that delivers laughs and charm but coasts on a shallow, predictable story."
Bright, elastic animation, playful monster designs, and lively voice work give the vacation setting plenty of visual and comedic energy. latestnetflix.com's read is that the romance and cruise ship antics entertain, yet the plot feels simple and predictable, with many supporting characters pushed to the sidelines and several gags stretched or recycled.
What viewers praise
- Vibrant animation quality Colorful, high-energy visuals and inventive monster designs make the cruise setting fun to look at from start to finish.
- Entertaining voice performances The returning cast and new additions bring a lot of personality, with Dracula, Ericka, and the core monsters voiced in a lively and engaging way.
- Playful family humor Fast-paced slapstick, goofy visual gags, and light dialogue keep kids laughing and give adults enough amusement to stay engaged.
- Catchy music and finale set-pieces Upbeat songs and the big DJ and dance showdowns give the movie a party atmosphere that sticks in viewers’ heads.
Common complaints
- Basic predictable story The romance and villain plot are straightforward and obvious, offering little emotional weight compared with earlier entries in the series.
- Sidelined supporting cast The focus on Dracula and Ericka leaves many fan-favorite monsters and Johnny with minimal screen time or development.
- Overdone silliness A few sequences drag on with nonstop gags, noisy chaos, or dialogue-free bits that feel more tiring than funny.
- Recycled and uneven jokes Some humor repeats ideas from earlier films or leans on crude or childish beats that do not always land.
Recommended for
Families with young kids Hotel Transylvania series followers Light animated comedy fans Monster-themed movie lovers Adam Sandler animation fans
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsGenndy Tartakovsky swore he was done. Then his in-laws booked a cruise.
He told the New York Post he was burned out. "I was burned out and done and said there is no way." Sony Pictures Animation had already started a third Hotel Transylvania without him. Then, the same year Hotel Transylvania 2 hit theaters, the in-laws sprung a surprise trip to Cabo San Lucas. "There's the initial thought of being trapped on a boat with my in-laws for a week," he said, laughing. "Even though I like them ... Still!" A cruise is a hotel that cannot dock. He pitched that. Sony jumped. He asked for more control. Michael McCullers, the Austin Powers writer, came on the script. TMDB files the result as movie/400155, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, PG, 97 minutes. 
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He told Deadline later he is not a cruise person. The in-laws still got him on a New Year's boat. Walking on, he watched families and thought the jokes would travel if you put water under the lobby. Wikipedia also notes Chevy Chase's National Lampoon Vacation movies as a reference. The title locked in November 2017. An almost-finished cut played Annecy on June 13, 2018. U.S. theaters got it July 13. Australia had already opened June 28, which is why some databases print that date first. Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, and Andy Samberg returned. Kathryn Hahn signed as Captain Ericka. Jim Gaffigan played her great-grandfather, Abraham Van Helsing, rebuilt as a machine who will not die. Joe Jonas voiced a music-loving Kraken. Chrissy Teigen voiced Crystal, the invisible girlfriend. Sadie Sandler kept Winnie. Tartakovsky even voiced Blobby again. , ,
The last Sandler Dracula made the most money.
Box Office Mojo has $167.5 million domestic, $361.1 million overseas on the original run, $528.6 million worldwide against a $65 to $80 million budget. Opening weekend was $44.1 million from 4,267 theaters, first place. By September 1, 2018, it had passed Hotel Transylvania 2 as Sony Pictures Animation's highest-grossing fully animated title, a mark Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse later took. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 62 percent, the best critic score in the franchise. CinemaScore was A-minus, same as the first two. Variety's Scott Tobias was not charmed. He called it a PG-rated Grown Ups at sea. That is the split. Kids bought tickets. Some critics heard Happy Madison with fangs. , , 
Sandler did not come back. Transformania went to YouTube impressionist Brian Hull as Dracula and Brad Abrell as Frankenstein, with Tartakovsky off the director's chair. Amazon Prime got that one in 2022 after theatrical plans collapsed. The third film is still the theatrical peak. Deadline reported in July 2026 that Sony and Amazon MGM are aiming a fifth movie, The Haunting of Hotel Transylvania, at theaters on October 8, 2027, with Jennifer Kluska and Alan Hawkins directing and Tartakovsky as an executive producer. The man who did not want a third cruise is now attached to a haunting. The 2018 movie remains the one where Drac zings again, Van Helsing lives in the hull, and a miserable family holiday paid for $528 million. Netflix later licensed it. The hotel on water is still the hit. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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