Hotel Transylvania
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: September 28, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
16
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliSep 27, 2012
The cutest darn thing in Hotel Transylvania is the way Count Dracula spazzes into a brilliant red devil-face when provoked. The second-cutest thing is his annoyed response to being misquoted by idiot humans. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaSep 27, 2012
There's enough here to entertain - and gross out - the kiddie crowd, and parental units, too Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 26, 2012
Hotel Transylvania doesn't raise the bar for animation or comedy but it's fun, and nice for once to have a different reason to say "boo" after an Adam Sandler flick. Read full review
75
The PlaylistDrew TaylorSep 25, 2012
Hotel Transylvania is very different from its contemporaries. You just wish that, with so much emphasis on chaos, they could have spent a little more time on character. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSep 30, 2012
The pleasantly disposable animated flick Hotel Transylvania, which gathers all the monsters in the world under one roof, is better than it should be, if not quite as good as it could be. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick PinkertonSep 25, 2012
Although it doesn't worry itself with dialectic complexities, Hotel Transylvania succeeds on the level of entertainment. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumSep 26, 2012
It's the parental mush about trusting one's kid to make her own discoveries and blah blah blah (spoken in a Sandlerized version of a Dracula voice) that drains the movie of blood. What's left are platitudes, and Sandler singing a novelty song in a Transylvanian-accented falsetto. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 30, 2012
It's juvenile from start to finish, which is fine if you're young, but not so great if your sole purpose in a theater is to accompany someone who's young. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartSep 28, 2012
A serviceable animated movie about a soft-hearted Dracula. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigSep 27, 2012
While it's an energetic romp, there is more slapstick humor than wit at work here, and a good deal of borrowing from the far more clever "Monsters, Inc." Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoSep 27, 2012
Some might say there isn't enough that's fresh here to recommend the movie in a big way, except that every generation of trick-or-treaters deserves its monster mash. Read full review
60
Total FilmPaul BradshawOct 1, 2012
Despite the all-star talent, an overload of sight gags and an always-amiable vibe, Genndy Tartakovsky's monster house is a bit too loony for its own good. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerSep 27, 2012
For the first half of the film, amusing monster humor keeps things interesting; some monsters, it turns out, are better at party games than others. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 27, 2012
As a vampire might say, "Be- vaaare , all who enter here above the age of 7! What lies on the screen ... is not for you !" Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonSep 26, 2012
Hotel Transylvania is occasionally the kind of fast-moving, gag-a-second film that relies on quantity of humor rather than quality. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanSep 28, 2012
Entertaining enough for the trick-or-treat crowd, but a bit more bite wouldn't kill it. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 27, 2012
Has a big-name cast, a cute premise and... and... hang on, thinking here. Nope. That's about it. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovSep 26, 2012
No surprises or major laughs here, but as far as Sandler family fare goes, it's inoffensive enough. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineAbhimanyu DasSep 22, 2012
Yet another instance of a decent, potentially thorny premise bogged down in a mess of treacly sentiment and tedious moralizing. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 12, 2012
Comedy gothic isn't exactly novel, and frankly there is a sense here of a movie coasting along on Halloween hype-marketing, without providing as many laughs and ideas as it really could have done. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'HaraOct 8, 2012
An animation that never drags itself out of mediocrity despite the best efforts of gifted animator Tartakovsky. Read full review
40
NPRIan BuckwalterSep 28, 2012
The problem is that Jonathan is possibly the most annoying romantic lead in any film in recent memory. His gnarly, X-Games-loving, righteous-dude shtick is so grating that my frustration with the lack of ferocity in the movie's monsters may be largely because I kept wishing one of them would act like a proper monster and tear him limb from limb. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeySep 27, 2012
There are some crowd-pleasers - but Hotel Transylvania never becomes the great monster mash that seemed in the offing. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsSep 27, 2012
Hotel Transylvania isn't a complete stinker. Sandler, speaking in a pitch close to his Opera Man routine from his days on Saturday Night Live, is less obnoxious than usual. The visuals are consistently enticing - the castle/hotel is artfully rendered...And there are some bright and funny lines. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearSep 25, 2012
So why does this animated kids' film fail to come together? Bursts of manic pacing steamroll over most of the wit, a little of Sandler's thick-accent shtick goes a looong way, and by the time the requisite life lessons about letting your offspring leave the nest get rolled out, the undead-on-arrival jokes are outnumbered by anemic sitcom gags. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 22, 2012
A stale overprotective-dad story set within a location that could easily house a more inspired mix of characters and events. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenSep 7, 2012
Hotel Transylvania checks in as an anemic example of pure concept over precious little content. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceySep 28, 2012
After six years in development, this comedy starring and produced by Adam Sandler feels as slapped together one of the comedian's live-action buddy movies. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianStephen WhittySep 28, 2012
The only reliable smiles come courtesy of Steve Buscemi, a frequent presence in Sandler movies, here voicing an exasperated, over-extended werewolf dad. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 27, 2012
Dominated by Adam Sandler's D-minus Bela Lugosi impression, the 3-D animated feature Hotel Transylvania illustrates the difference between engaging a young movie audience and agitating it, with snark and noise and everything but the funny. Read full review
20
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottSep 28, 2012
It features predictable humor and an underdeveloped story. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 26, 2012
As for Hotel Transylvania,, no need to put a stake in it, it's deadly dull already. Read full review
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