Cartoon fans were somewhat perplexed when the first feature film from Genndy Tartakovsky – the dazzlingly talented creator of Samurai Jack and Clone Wars – turned out to be the rather pedestrian Hotel Transylvania. But audiences rather liked the idea of a monster resort populated by Adam Sandler players. The film went on to gross $358.4 million (€314 million), the sequel has already hoovered up $207.8 million and a third film looks certain.
Happily, this second monster mash makes for a slicker spectacle than the 2012 original even if most of the jokes are as old as the 539-year-old protagonist. We open with a wedding as Drac’s precious daughter Mavis (Gomez) marries her human boyfriend Jonathan (Samberg) and we move straight into a montage as Mavis falls pregnant and gives birth to Dennis. By the age of five, Dennis is a cause of concern for his grandfather, having failed to show a single symptom of monsterism. Still, Drac proves a far easier patriarch to please than Vlad (Mel Brooks), Dennis’s ultra-conservative great-grandfather.
In common with a lot of recent Sandler misfires, the jokes are corny at best and the script really ought to have more for Sandler regulars Kevin James, Steve Buscemi and David Spade to say and do.
A subplot concerning Mavis’s human-in-laws wastes the vocal talents of Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally and most viewers will feel aggrieved that Brooks isn’t in the film earlier and more often.
Still, the material is a lot stronger than anything in the premise-squandering Pixels or lacklustre Paul Blart sequel. If early numbers are anything to go by, plenty of youngsters find Transylvania's old-school silliness just as endearing as such critical wows as Inside Out.
