Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
Certified: U
Duration: 89 minutes
Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Asher Blinkoff, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Mel Brooks, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Dana Carvey, Rob Riggle
KRS Releasing Ltd

Dracula (Adam Sandler) wants his four-year-old nephew Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) to be a bloodthirsty vampire just like him. The problem is that Mavis (Selena Gomez), Dracula’s 118-year-old vampire daughter, married Jonathan (Andy Samberg), an American tourist. This means that Dennis is half human. The greatest fear for Dracula is that the human side might win.

Jonathan and Mavis decide to go to Santa Cruz, Jonathon’s home town, leaving Dennis with his grandfather.

Dracula’s plan is to make sure that Dennis becomes a fully-fledged vampire before his fifth birthday. Rallied to the cause are Murray the Mummy (Keegan Michael Key), Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade), Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi) and Frankenstein (Kevin James). The problem with this plan is that they haven’t played the role of ‘scary’ monster in a while.

Everything will culminate in Dennis’s birthday party which will be attended by, among others, Jonathan’s parents and Vlad (Mel Brooks), Dracula’s old-school-type vampire father.

A delightful injection of colour that makes the venture even more vivacious

The first Hotel Transylvania was a cute, delightful movie, a box office hit. Not spectacular, not Pixar-like in its scope, but it resurrected the old Universal monsters and placed them out there for kids’ and adults’ consumption. The formula worked perfectly.

Hotel Transylvania 2 takes up where the first movie left off – it does this with enough breezy atmosphere and good heart to really emerge in an effective and delightful way.

Genndy Tartakovsky, one of Cartoon Network’s vivacious creators and who was behind the likes of Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Dexter’s Laboratory, brings a playful attitude to the film, making this a delightful mish-mash of retro ideas.

The film also benefits from some excellent one-liners. It also has well-synchronised and versed voicing talents, with the likes of Mel Brooks being one of the film’s highlights – his attitude simply seeps off every syllable that he utters. Adam Sandler continues where he left off, while Selena Gomez as Mavis hits the right notes. Kevin James as Frankenstein is also one of the film’s main vocal points, while David Spade as the Invisible Man with the Invisible Woman as a non-existent girlfriend is just right.

Hotel Transylvania 2 is served with a delightful injection of colour that makes the venture even more vivacious. The effort here is clearly on being kid-friendly spooky rather than scary. The film also portrays the ways in which kids and pop culture in general view these ‘scary’ monsters.

The film chugs along happily as it mines its slapstick dose to the full, while it also intelligently incorporates horror references that will keep any moviegoer happy.

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