Hotel Transylvania 3

Hotel Transylvania 3

Hotel Transylvania 3 or the “threequel” lives up to the standards of its predecessors. And how! It’s a perfect family film and a wholesome entertainer in the true sense. It is funny, inventive and has its morals in place without being overtly didactic.

The story goes as follows. In 1897, Dracula and his friends disguise themselves and travel to Budapest but Professor Abraham Van Helsing who is the arch-rival of Dracula boards the train and reveals the faces of the monsters. Fortunately, the monsters escape through the roof. Van Helsing is obsessed with destroying Dracula but is constantly outwitted by him.

Shifting focus to the present day, Dracula is running his hotel business in a perfectly normal way, with his daughter Mavis and son-in-law Johnny. But Dracula is depressed due to the fact that he has remained single ever since his wife Martha died. Mavis notices this emotion of her father and thinks of it to be work-related stress. So, she books a cruise for the entire family so they can all take a break and spend more time together. Consequently, Dracula, Mavis, Johnny, Dennis, Vlad, and the hotel guests board a cruise ship called the Legacy. On the ship, Dracula sees the ship's human captain, Ericka, and immediately falls in love with her. He had thought that this would be an impossible task since he had already “zinged” before.

In Parallel, Ericka goes to a secret room on the lower decks of the ship and meets Abraham Van Helsing, who is shown to be her great-grandfather. He acts and appears like a robot as he has been completely automated in order to prevent a natural death. Van Helsing hatches an evil plan to eliminate all the monsters from the face of the Earth and thinks that the cruise is a good opportunity to do so. He plans to do this in the lost city of Atlantis using an Instrument of Destruction, which he plans to find in the ruins of the city. Ericka promises her great grandfather that she would not assassinate Dracula before that, but she doesn’t keep her promise and makes repeated unsuccessful attempts at it. Then Dracula summons his courage and asks Ericka out on a date. She agrees to it as she sees this as another chance to kill him. As they dine on a deserted island, Ericka also begins to fall in love with him, as they talk at length about each other's pasts.

Mavis, on the other hand, finds out about Dracula’s interest in Erica and becomes suspicious of Ericka from then on. The cruise ship finally reaches Atlantis, which is now transformed into a casino. Dracula decides to tell Mavis the truth about his feelings for Ericka but gets distracted seeing Ericka enter an underground cave and decides to follow her first. There is a short chase sequence between them and when suddenly Mavis arrives and confronts them. At that moment, Dracula confesses that he has "zinged" with Ericka, leaving both Mavis and Ericka surprised and confused. After Ericka learns what a "zing" is, she outrightly rejects Dracula's feelings for her and Dracula is left heartbroken and helpless.

Ericka then hands over the Instrument of Destruction to Van Helsing with mixed feelings of guilt and remorse. Helsing then sets a trap for the monsters at a dance party. Mavis then encourages Dracula to confront Ericka who tells him that she was in fact afraid of him leaving her which consoles him for a bit. At the same time, Helsing appears and she is forced to tell Dracula that she is in fact related to him. Then, Van Helsing unveils the Instrument of Destruction on a music note sheet and plays a song that attracts a friendly Kraken living near the island to attack the monsters. Dracula tries to stop the Kraken but gets injured in the attempt. Then Ericka rescues Dracula from the Kraken and pleads with her great-grandfather to stop the destruction and also confesses her love for Dracula. This further intensifies Van Helsing’s rage and he attacks them both violently.

To assuage Kraken’s powers, Johnny opens his DJ kit and starts playing positive songs with happy notes and good vibrations. This is to counter Van Helsing’s songs. He is proved successful when everybody is mesmerized and begins to dance to those numbers. In fact, Van Helsing himself, loses control and begins to dance, but while dancing he slips and falls. He is saved by Dracula. Helsing is touched by Dracula’s act of kindness and begs for forgiveness. He also apologizes to the rest of the monsters and also gives everyone a full refund for the cruise. Finally, when they are back at Hotel Transylvania, Dracula proposes to Ericka. She stammers at the question but finally agrees. A true happily ever after story!

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