Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Hotel Transylvania (2012) is an American animated monster comedy film jointly produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. Following the tragic death of his wife Martha at the hands of a human mob, Count Dracula erects a grand hotel exclusively for creatures in Transylvania. Here, he raises his daughter Mavis and provides a refuge for monsters seeking to escape persecution from humans. Regular guests at the hotel include iconic monsters such as Frankenstein, Wayne and Wanda Werewolf, Griffin the Invisible Man, and Murray the Mummy. On Mavis’ 118th birthday, she expresses her desire to explore the human world. Her father agrees but concocts a clever plan using his zombie bellhops disguised as humans to deter her from venturing too far.

The plan successfully brings a human, Jonathan ‘Johnny’ Loughran, back to the hotel with the zombies. In a moment of panic, Drac cleverly disguises him as a Frankensteinesque monster and introduces him as Frank’s cousin ‘Johnnystein’. To his surprise, Jonathan and Mavis immediately hit it off. However, Drac knows he can’t let Johnny leave without causing suspicion, so he quickly comes up with a cover story – Johnny is a party planner tasked with adding some excitement to the hotel’s traditional and mundane gatherings. The other monsters are impressed by Johnny’s energy and charisma, but this makes Drac feel insecure and worried that his friends will never return if they discover the truth. He attempts to send Johnny away, but Mavis intervenes, unaware of his true identity and their families’ long-standing conflict. After experiencing her first sunrise with Johnny’s help, Mavis realizes she may have unfairly judged humans and decides to give them another chance.