Prime Time: Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)

With a lot of the key figures returning, and many of the voice actors reprising their roles (I cannot think of anyone I really missed from this adventure, which may say as much about them as it does about me), Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is clearly aiming to deliver more of the same fun for those who have enjoyed any of the previous three films in the series. And it succeeds.

Dracula (voiced by Brian Hull this time around) is getting on in years, which means he will soon be handing over his beloved hotel to his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), but that means it also ends up being in the hands of her human partner, Jonathan (Andy Samberg). Knowing that his non-monster identity is a big problem for his father-in-law, Jonathan ends up volunteering for a process that will, to use the technical term, monsterfy him. That works, but it also turns a number of main monsters into normal humans, creating confusion and worry while everyone tries to rectify the situation.

The first full feature directed by either Derek Drymon or Jennifer Kluska, both having a wealth of experience in other main roles, this seems like a great way to ease into that role, considering the fun nature of the brand and the many cast members all having fun with their roles. There are three credited writers (Genndy Tartakovsky, returning from the third film, but making this one the first that he didn’t direct, Amos Vernon, and Nunzio Randazzo), and they have a great framework to work with, considering the canny casting of the main characters.

Alongside Hull, who sounds so much like Adam Sandler in the role that I didn’t realise the change until checking the credits, Samberg, and Gomez (and the focus is often on the first two as they work through the issues putting a strain on their relationship), you get fun turns from Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Brad Abrell, Kathryn Hahn, and Fran Drescher. It’s also worth mentioning Jim Gaffigan, playing an enjoyably unhinged Van Helsing. Whether they have been in all of the preceding movies or they have stepped in to take over the voice of a character, everyone does great work.

The animation style is in line with everything we’ve seen before, and there are plenty of wonderful visual gags complementing the dialogue, which makes it hard to imagine fans of this series being disappointed with this instalment. None of the sequels were particularly necessary, and I don’t think they were animated classics, but each one was enjoyably silly and entertaining. And each one presented some enjoyable horror archetypes in a kid-friendly form, while also maintaining focus on some valuable life lesson at the heart of the comedy.

A slight step up from the last film, which was the weakest (but still amusing enough), I recommend this to those who have enjoyed any of the previous animated adventures of Drac and co.

7/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water (2015)

While the first SpongeBob SquarePants movie was both wonderful and hilarious, it was a pretty straightforward quest narrative. This sequel is also, at the very heart of it, a quest, but it’s a quest that takes some twists and turns, including a magical book that allows characters to literally write their own fate, and a little bit of time-travel. I didn’t expect it to be as good as the first film, which was released just over a decade before this one, but I was hoping to have some more fun.

The whole thing begins with a theft, and it’s a theft committed in live-action form by a pirate (played by Antonio Banderas). We then move to another theft, this time one committed by Plankton, once again aiming to get his hands on the magical Krabby Patty recipe. But things soon get weird, so weird that SpongeBob ends up helping Plankton escape, with the two of them working together to find the lost recipe before Bikini Bottom is irrevocably changed by the loss.

First thing’s first, this isn’t as enjoyable or hilarious as the first movie. That’s not that surprising, I guess, but it still does enough to keep you smiling throughout . Most of the best gags appear in the opening third, but the finale has the additional pleasure of seeing the characters made “real” and interacting with elements of the world around us. I realise that me saying that implies a weak middle act, but that’s not the case. It just isn’t on par with the sections that bookend it.

Everyone is back for the main voice roles. No SpongeBob SquarePants adventure would be the same without hearing from Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, and Mr. Lawrence, as well as the other regulars. They all do the usual great work, and Banderas, as the main newcomer, and main non-animated character, is equally fun as Pirate Burger Beard.

While creator Stephen Hillenburg sits a bit further away from the main duties this time around, I’m sure he was keeping a close eye on everything. He wouldn’t have to worry too much about director Paul Tibbitt (or Mike Mitchell, responsible for the live-action sequences) though, or the lead writers, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. They all know what is needed, and they deliver.

While it’s not quite as good as the first feature film, this does well to avoid already feeling tired and stale. Whenever the gag rate dips slightly, there’s more than enough inventiveness and anarchy to make up for that. I had another very enjoyable visit to Bikini Bottom, and I am already looking forward to heading back there very soon.

8/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)

I cannot say that I am overly familiar with SpongeBob SquarePants, but I know enough about him to enjoy this movie. He lives in Bikini Bottom. He works at an underwater diner named the Krusty Krab. And he has a loyal friend named Patrick. I have somehow absorbed all of this information without ever having watched a full episode of the TV show, as far as I am aware. I have watched this movie before though, but I remembered nothing about it.

There are a number of enjoyable diversions here, but the core of the plot concerns SpongeBob and Patrick embarking on a long and dangerous journey to reclaim and return Neptune’s crown. Succeeding in this quest will save the life of their boss, Eugene Krabs, and foil the scheme of the nefarious Plankton, who also gets busy turning the residents of Bikini Bottom into mindless zombies (not the full-on horror type, just devoid of their own willpower and easily controlled by Plankton).

Bookended by scenes that show a rowdy gang of pirates hoping to enjoy the animated feature, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie is just about as much fun as you could expect it to be. It seems to keep the essence of the show and characters, increases the scale just enough to make it feel worth adapting into a movie, and delivers plenty of surreal hilarity in both rhe visuals and the dialogue.

Directed and co-written by SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg, with many others helping to knock the script into shape (and Mark Osborne credited for the live-action sequences), this feels like the kind of brilliant anarchy that you only get from someone who has negotiated their way to a place where they get to protect their vision with a final say on anything that will be delivered to the viewing public. Maybe that is exactly what happened, or maybe it is just a coincidence that Hillenburg had turned down numerous requests to turn his show into a movie before finally helming something that moved from the small screen to the big screen with such apparent ease.

The cast are mainly familiar to those who enjoy the show. Tom Kenny is SpongeBob, Bill Faggerbakke is Patrick, Rodger Bumpass is Squidward, Clancy Brown is Mr. Krab, and Mr. Lawrence is Plankton. All of them are superb, and they are joined by Jeffrey Tambor and Scarlett Johansson (playing Neptune and his daughter, respectively), Carolyn Lawrence and Jill Talley (both also reprising characters from the show), Alec Baldwin, and even the world’s most famous TV lifeguard, who pops up for a hilarious cameo that allows him to steal a couple of scenes.

I cannot think of anything here I would fault. While it may not make me rush off to watch every episode of the show, that is only because of me having only so many hours in each day. I will certainly be aiming to watch the other movies, at the very least, and I hope they come close to being as much fun as this one, which had me laughing pretty heartily from start to finish. I know that the silliness here isn’t for everyone, but I am certainly happy to be a goofy goober.

9/10

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