From the start, I just did not get this. At all. I love watching a film without knowing about it, but had someone told me it was about a woman who was having some kind of a strange psychological break and not having good support… actually, I don’t know that I wouldn’t have watched it. Especially with a cast that included Alison Brie and Molly Shannon. Still, for me, this was odd, weird and… I didn’t like it much at all.
Josie Gellar (Drew Barrymore) works at a newspaper as a fact checker-type person, but dreams of being a journalist. She is sent into a school by her boss Gus (John C. Reilly) to compile an investigative report into kids of today, however, she gets caught up in life and trying to be cool. She’s helped by her idiot brother Rob (David Arquette) who uses this as a chance to relive his cool past. And then there is the dreamy teacher, Sam Coulson (Michael Vartan).
And here’s where I have a real issue. I just have a problem with teacher/student love affairs. Regardless of who starts it or how successful that relationship may go on to be, it still starts with an older person in position of trust who, in today’s society and with today’s values, needs to be better. So, the fact that Sam in this case did not actually act on his feelings, he believed her to be a minor and he overstepped the line a few times. And no-one found this a bit creepy?
I really wanted to like this film, I just couldn’t get past the creep factor. And there was a bit too much suspension of belief for me.
Dracula lives in a hotel he has built for all kinds of monsters to keep them safe from humans, who all monsters fear. His daughter is about to turn 118, and is ready to travel the world. Dracula does not want her to go, but he manages to scare her into staying, and he and his monster mates throw her a huge party. However, a spanner is thrown into the works when a real human manages to stumble into the hotel, despite all of Dracula’s safeguards.
I generally enjoy films aimed at a young audience. Generally; although I usually find something to rile me up and get annoyed about. Like, the lion in Madagascar who is trying to be vegetarian. Lions don’t have a choice. Don’t be ridiculous. And don’t get me started on Happy Feet. Hotel Transylvania hasn’t really got enough depth of content for me to get truly riled up. However, I do get cross about the representation of men in these cartoons.
Yes, the representation of men. I see myself as a feminist, and get annoyed that the women are all shown with huge, cute eyes and limbs so slender they’d snap if you gave them a decent high-five, but it is the men that annoy me. Why do they all have to look so stupid? And act so stupid? Oh, did you see Brave recently? Not a decent man in the whole film. Idiots and losers. What is wrong with the world? Why can’t we have decent cartoon men?
Oops. I see there is enough in this to get me ranting. Apologies. Back to some semblance of a review.
The human that stumbles in is a stoner backpacker with no respect for the culture he has come across, who instead seeks to change the culture rather than simply observing or partaking in it. Too much of an intellectual read into it? Probably. The more I think about the film, the less I liked it. There are funny moments, but not enough to make it worth watching. I didn’t like the story, I didn’t like the characters. The only thing I liked was trying to figure out who was doing the voices. Didn’t really have much luck with that either. Nope, overall, I just didn’t like this film. But perhaps I’m finally outgrowing kids films.
Hotel Transylvania was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.
Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is the top NASCAR driver, rising to fame with the assistance of his wingman, Cal Naughton Jnr (John C Reilly). But then, after his first, fairly uneventful accident, he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and cannot drive. His wife leaves him for his best friend, and it is only the assistance of his absent father, Reese Bobby (Gary Cole) that he can get back on track.
This is one of those dumb Will Ferrell/John C Reilly films. Heaps of people love these films. Not me. I found it such a yawn fest. The characters are so ridiculous that there is no empathy for them. Possibly, they would make good characters for a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch, but a whole film? Whatever.
ireckonthat 