The Drac Pack is back.
In the span of a few years' time, Johnny (Andy Samberg) and Mavis (Selena Gomez) have gotten married and have had a child, named Dennis (or as Dracula [Adam Sandler] likes to call him, Denysovich). Dracula is obviously hoping that this child will keep up the Dracula family name by becoming a vampire. However, as Dennis approaches his 5th birthday (the latest age a vampire can get his or her fangs), Dracula gets ever-so-concerned that Dennis may end up being fully human instead. And at the same time, should he be fully human, Mavis and Johnny are considering moving away from the Hotel and living in Johnny's native hometown in California. Maybe its time to pull a few strings to get the fangs to come out?
The animation in both Hotel Transylvania movies is cartoony and exquisite. And even more here, director Genndy Tartakovsky's interesting style comes out to play. Everything here feels like a mix of comic books and gothic art. And while it may not necessarily be realistic, for a modern-day computer animated film, its still a lot of fun to watch. The Halloween-style wedding at the beginning was a particularly interesting treat.
The voice cast, once again, delivers. Sandler does a respectful, yet somewhat manic version of Dracula. But he is able to transcend between comical, crazy and heartfelt all in proper doses. Gomez and Sandberg are also solid, and I enjoyed Asher Blinkoff as Dennis. Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi and Keagen Michael-Key (replacing Cee Lo Green as Murray) are all given a good amount of jokes and lines to work with, and none of them are given too little to do. The only actors from the previous movie that are given hardly anything to do are Fran Drescher (who was one of the scene-stealers of the first movie, is only (I think) given just one line of dialogue here in the final cut), and Molly Shannon. Sandler's 9-year old daughter Sadie, on the other hand, is given much more to work with here as werewolf pup Winnie.
Mark Mothersbaugh once again gives a creative music score. Some genuinely hilarious moments.
On the downside, the pacing of the overall film is uneven. While the scenes spent outside the hotel are fun and play to the story very well, they might could have trimmed off a few minutes. The middle feels like it drags a bit. In addition to that, the film's villain, Vlad (voiced with solid energy by Mel Brooks), doesn't appear until the last 20 minutes of the movie. I wish he could have been given more to work with. Maybe he could have visited the hotel earlier in the film.
The overall ending of the film falls short of the memorable conclusion of the first movie, which had the memorable song-rap "Zing". Here, the ending song is Fifth Harmony's "I'm in Love with a Monster". The pop tune is competent, but it doesn't match that other song. I also liked the semi-musical moments the previous movie had, and this film didn't have those moments.
Hotel Transylvania was one of those movies that took me a little bit to warm up to. It was a frenetically silly, yet cartoonishly clever and heartwarmingly sweet romp. While it falls short of Monsters University and Monsters, Inc. in terms of animated monster mashes, it still stood on its own as reasonable entertainment.
And in almost every way, this sequel is basically the same. It carries the same rambunctiously (and occasionally eye-rolling) goofy attitude that the first movie carried. It's cartoonish feel is both interesting and distinct (and Tartakovsky can take the credit for some of that). And it does deliver some genuinely heartfelt moments, even if its not nearly as clear or well-done as that of the Pixar movies.
If there's any animated franchise that Hotel Transylvania reminds me of, its Despicable Me and Madagascar (at least the first two in that trilogy). They may not be as well-made or memorable as some of their competition, but they are still a whole lot of fun and worth watching. They keep you entertained and manage to sneak in a decent bedtime moral on family, acceptance, or friendship.
A draggy middle aside, Hotel Transylvania 2 is just as entertaining and fun as its predecessor. While children and fans of the first movie will obviously be overjoyed with all the monster and cartoony mayhem, adults will at least be content with the fact that the overall ride doesn't leave them out in the dust.
Score: 7.4/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: "Jeez" and "holy rabies".
Adult Content: The only adult joke in the film comes when Vlad says a whig looks like his "grandma's boobies" (While this is off-topic, I thought it was funny that the kids in the audience all went "ewww" after that). Johnny and Mavis kiss. Murray calls his girlfriend "hot".
Violence: There is some slapstick violence and mildly scary moments. Particularly at the end, Vlad's vampires and cave may frighten some youngsters. A climactic action scene shows Dracula, Mavis and others fighting these vampires off with fast-paced cartoonish punches, kicks, and wing slaps. Someone nearly stakes a human from behind. A tower crashes. Frankenstein sets himself on fire by accident and causes some destruction. Blobby falls off a cliff and is hit repeatedly. Dracula twists the Invisible Man's nipples. Someone is thrown off a very high pedestal. A few horror jokes involve "sucking blood" and accidental stains that look like more than they actually are.
Drugs/Alcohol: Glasses of champagne are briefly spotted.
Other: Dracula lies to Mavis. A few passing bathroom-related giggles (Blobby going on a tree, a toilet exploding on someone about to use it, someone mentioning "Dracula peeing" as a child"). Mavis consumes too much sugar in one scene.
