Hotel Transylvania 2

“They’re back to raise a little terror.”

A visit back to Hotel Transylvania takes us through the 5 years that have passed between the end of the first film and the main story in this one. Mavis and Johnny have married and also have a new baby boy named Dennis. Dennis does not display any traits of being a vampire and it is possible that he will remain human. Dracula thinks that he is just a late fanger and needs to be pushed a little to become a full-fledged vampire. However, Mavis wants to protect her son and begins to think that the hotel may be too dangerous for Dennis to remain. She plans to move out of the hotel with her family to live near Johnny’s human family in California. Johnny (who doesn’t want to leave the hotel) tries to distract Mavis on their pre-move trip to California while Dracula works to have Dennis become a vampire so they can all stay at the hotel.

Hotel Transylvania 2 is a solid continuation of the characters from the first film. Most of the voice actors returned to their roles from the first film and seemed a bit more comfortable in their portrayals. This seemed especially the case with Kevin James as Frankenstein and Selena Gomez as Mavis. And, maybe I am just getting used to it at this point, but Adam Sandler’s Dracula did not put me off as much as it did in the first film. All and all everyone does a good job in the film.

Additions to the cast include Johnny’s mom and dad played by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman respectively and Mel Brooks as Grandpa Vlad. These were welcome and fantastic additions to the cast. Megan Mullally absolutely nailed her performance as a mother who is trying way too hard to accept her new monster in-laws and Nick Offerman’s few lines as Johnny’s Dad just pinpointed how ridiculous his wife was being. Mel Brooks brought everything to his character in the little he is in the film. Vlad was a great combination of terror, humor, and old-world narrowmindedness. You really felt that Vlad was an ancient and powerful vampire.

The story, on the other hand, was not as good as the first in my opinion. That is not to say it wasn’t entertaining. It just moved a little too fast for me compared to the first. I could see that they were trying to cover a lot of ground at the beginning as they quickly moved from the marriage to the child’s birth to covering the first few years of his life. This had the unfortunate effect of cramming a lot of the core story into the second part of the film. It just seemed very fast paced and a bit choppy in trying to hit all the important plot points.

This wasn’t helped by the constant locations switching. In this film, we are in the hotel, California, the dark woods, the not so dark woods, the summer camp, and Vlad’s cave. Most of these locations are visited in one night. I would have enjoyed the film a lot more if more time was spent in a few locations than bouncing all over the place. They could have eliminated the forest areas almost entirely and focused more on the summer camp and that would have helped a lot.

Now we hit the moral of Hotel Transylvania 2, [SPOILER] accepting people for who they are and not trying to change them. Dracula seems to learn this by the end of the movie which is great, but Dennis still ends up changing which kind of defeats the whole purpose. Now, allowance can be made because he doesn’t change until after Dracula learns the lesson nor does he change through Dracula’s machinations. [END OF SPOILER] This is also how I, as an adult, am looking at the movie. A young child will easily get the moral and not be perturbed by the ending. Also, I can’t imagine the franchise continuing well if the ending was altered.

The comedy in this movie was improved from the first. I found myself laughing and enjoying it more. There was still the occasional toilet humor which was about the same amount as the first, but beyond that, I think the jokes were funnier and better placed than Hotel Transylvania. They may have also been improved by the improved performances of the cast. You will get a lot of enjoyment and laughs from Hotel Transylvania 2.

The animation looked better than in the first film (which was still great). Not drastically, but smoother and more details in the backgrounds. The music is still good, but seemed like less of a focus compared to the original. However, there are some new original songs and a few old ones make their return.

There are plenty of releases of this film including DVD, bundles with the other movies, special editions and so forth. The blu-ray version of the film is great. The animation is smooth, the colors vibrant, and the sound quality excellent. Really it is everything one would expect from a film release of this caliber today. There are also plenty of special features in the standalone release of the film including director and actor commentary, karaoke versions of some of the songs from the film, deleted scenes, instructional videos and more. A lot of bang for your dollar if you grab a copy of Hotel Transylvania 2.

Hotel Transylvania 2 lets audiences revisit their monster friends from the first film and have a lot of fun on a new adventure. With the introduction of new characters, it keeps the movie fresh and entertaining. The chemistry between the characters has developed to a point where you really feel like they are a family. The comedy will keep both kids and parents entertained. While the story seems a little weaker than the first film, it is only by a small amount so if you like the first one, you will like this one. So pop it into your player, put in your fangs (or don’t because you are fine as you are), relax on your couch, and save me some popcorn!

Check out our reviews of the other films in this franchise!

Hotel Transylvania

Rating:

Jack Savage:

A solid sequel with some good laughs and a great way to introduce your kids to the classic monsters.

 

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