Review: Hotel Transylvania the series “A Scare to Remember/Hank and the Real Boy”

Hotel Transylvania the series concentrates on Mavis (Bryn McAuley), Hank (Gage Munroe), Wendy (Evyn Rosen), and Pedro (Joseph Motiki) in their antics.

In “A Scare to Remember,” famous author Cornelius Shivers arrives to crank out his newest best seller. Renowned author Cornelius authored A Scare to Remember, and has the unique ability to make Aunt Lydia (Dan Chameroy) swoon. Unfortunately, Mavis forgets to clean room 1313 for Cornelius. But Pedro and Hank clean up the room to aid Mavis. They do so with the help of a trash mouth.

Yet when Cornelius moves in, there’s an issue. As he explains, typically he goes to sleep, wakes up, and the novel is written. Perhaps this is a reference to Stephen King, who doesn’t remember writing Cujo. Shivers clarifies that a ghostwriter instead creates all of his books. Quite literally a ghostwriter: It’s a ghost that writes.

Mavis attempts to lure the ghostwriter back which initially doesn’t work. As such, Mavis, Pedro, Hank, and Wendy concoct a story as a team of ghostwriters. It’s ridden with tropes, and pretty disjointed. The critics absolutely pan it. Compounding it, Shivers dedicates the book to Aunt Lydia.

I like the way this ends sort of unexpectedly. Whereas I assumed a different conclusion, instead Hotel Transylvania opted for a bit of a twist. It’s not major, but refreshingly different than past episodes. Additionally, I enjoyed learning more about the universe through including a famous author. Similarly, I like the room 1313 which isn’t specific reference, yet calls to mind Room 237 or room 1408.

“Hank and the Real Boy” finds Hank becomes a real boy. He explains that he’s not thrilled about being the monster that comes apart. Instead, he wishes he were whole. Mavis, always attempting to fix situations, gets all the tape, magnets, and paper clips she can find.

Somehow, it works, and Hank becomes a real boy. He’s all one piece, and Hank couldn’t be happier. At least at first. There’s an excellent moment when Hank bellows “I feel alive, alive!” which is a throwback to the iconic Frankenstein moment.

However, Mavis accidentally turns Hank into a human. This causes pandemonium. The monsters, even the dead ones, run for their lives with a human in their midst.

The humor is on point. A particularly witty moment comes when Hank states that he must go live in Human Town which he guesses is in Canada. The dichotomy between humans and monsters is neat. It’s been explored earlier. However, this episode delves further into it. I like seeing the Cartwrights again. Additionally, the ridiculousness of humans and what they enjoy is all too real.

This series entry is enjoyable, and notably “A Scare to Remember” presents a mildly surprising finale. I wish “Hank and the Real Boy” probed how Hank became human. It’s not exactly elucidated how he turns into a human, and how to turn him back. Mavis posits that lightning was the catalyst for turning him into a human, so perhaps striking him again with lightning might reverse the process. But I’m curious why this remains unexplained. It’s a bit of a noodle incident. Mavis even excitedly explains it away as “Because of science!”Additionally, there’s  musical number which just doesn’t fit. I really wish the series would nix the song segments since they just don’t gel with the rest of the show. This might be my favorite episode yet of Hotel Transylvania the series. It’s nothing revolutionary, but the delightful cast of characters, solid voice acting and cute stories make it a winner.