Hotel Transylvania 2, 2015.
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.
Starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan Michael Key, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Dana Carvey, Rob Riggle, Chris Kattan, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Jon Lovitz, and Mel Brooks.
SYNOPSIS:
Dracula and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson in order to keep Mavis from leaving the hotel.
Full disclosure, I have not seen the first Hotel Transylvania, but decided to give the sequel, simply titled Hotel Transylvania 2 a shot, partly because I take some pleasure in coming online and professionally trashing Adam Sandler’s recent lazy output. I can’t really do that this time though, because I kind of enjoyed what I saw, despite the fact that it’s clear Adam Sandler has brought his friends along again for another easy paycheck.
Without having seen the first, even I can tell from a narrative standpoint that this movie is really stretching for sequel material. By the end of the first, Dracula has come to accept humans (and I’m assuming forgave them considering the movie contains a line about his wife getting killed by one) and allow them to resort at Hotel Transylvania. Hey, money is money, and with a grandson on the way it’s only good business. The filmmakers have sort of done a 180 however, illustrating that while Dracula is okay with humans for financial gain, he hasn’t quite let them into his heart yet.
And that’s where Hotel Transylvania 2 digs for a plot and scurries through an extended joke for roughly 80 minutes. Disappointed his grandson hasn’t grown into his fangs yet (there’s also a possibility that due to being the offspring of a human and monster, the child may simply retain solely human qualities), what ensues is the group of monsters secretly attempting to literally scare the fangs out of the child while watching him as the parents vacation.
It’s also here where you see two styles of writing clashing; one Genndy Tartakovsky, and the other Adam Sandler cramming in jokes about David Spade with an invisible girlfriend and other nonsense. However, the movie isn’t necessarily harmful for children. It’s actually the opposite and once again touts a message against discrimination of all kinds. There is also very little toilet humor here, which is a godsend because I had enough already from Sandler this year with Q-bert pissing from fear in Pixels.
None of the comedy is offensive or juvenile, or even very funny, but it works as worthy material for parents to distract their kids with. They also might take away the film’s admirable message of treating others how you wish to be treated. Adults will also enjoy the animation on display, which is rather interesting at speeding up certain elements and often mimicking stop-motion, but as CGI.
The characters all work well too; Mel Brooks plays a good outdated stereotypical old man prejudiced buffoon, I’ll already watch Steve Buscemi in anything so him as the Big Bad Wolf is humorous, Andy Samberg plays the slacker boyfriend well, and admittedly, Adam Sandler makes for a great Dracula. He truly should take on more animated roles, as his awkward voice and speech impediment allow for him to stand out more in characters of this caliber.
For everyone else, Hotel Transylvania 2 is just there. It’s nowhere near as stimulating and intellectual as a Pixar offering, but nowhere near as stupidly offensive as some of the atrocious crap that flood the animated genre simply because some parents will take their children to see anything if it means they don’t have to actually be a parent. As a sequel it’s pretty pointless, but I would say otherwise if I worked at Sony and saw the box office this past weekend… so I guess expect even more mediocre affairs of Adam Sandler as Dracula struggling to join harmony between monsters and humans.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder – An aficionado of film, wrestling, and gaming. Follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=sbXoZXr2goI
Originally published October 2, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
