With its release timed for Halloween, many are wondering if the new Hotel Transylvania is a trick or a treat…
Continuing on from the young lover’s first escapade, we see them grow into the role of parents and Drac as a ‘Gracular’, who as usual has the most growing up to do. We see the return of our favourite characters Wayne (Steve Buscemi), Frankenstein (Kevin James), and many more as they take baby Denis on his first big adventure.
The big adventure takes us around various parts of Drac’s childhood, as he attempts to make baby Dennis every bit the scaremonger he is… While this is in itself a joke the story is chained so rigidly to it, that it makes it very hard to swallow any of the points the film tries to make. The introduction of technology however has its entertaining moments as we watch Drac’s frustration, this being one of the few relevant empathetic draws for the audience and the hilariously blatant Sony product placement doesn’t really detract anything.
The film is a wacky roller coaster with tons of our favourite monsters, easy gags and bright colours. I could hear kids chuckling away in front of us so the slapstick humour was finding its right audience, however as an adult the fruity comedy was a tad overripe. As we are transported from place after place throughout the film it’s hard not to yearn for the simplicity of the hotel, so well characterised in the first movie (and in parts during the sequel), after all it is the movies name sake!
(L-R) Actors David Spade, Selena Gomez, Fran Drescher, Kevin James, Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon and Andy Samberg
There were a few new characters added to the mix in the form of Johnny’s family and Drac’s father. Mel Brooks, as Vlad, plays the imposing figure well and it is a shame he is all but a cameo. Johnny’s family are a relatively bland addition notable only for their exceptionally compliant nature. The wolf cubs receive some character development which is tastefully done and provides plenty of amusement but most of the characters are more of the same. This lack of character development does place some fragility on Mavis and Johnny’s likelihood to be at childbearing age, their actions as parents seem somewhat under researched even to my inexperienced eyes.
Hotel Transylvania 2 is not as well crafted as its prequel and anyone looking for something more than the average Sandler movie will be sadly disappointed, but it is still a fun Halloween romp that most young kids will enjoy.
Rating: 6/10
(Rating for the young’uns: 8/10)
Author – Joe, Bath store.
