Not Quite The Bite Of The First One..."Hotel Transylvania 2"

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

Rated PG

Starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Asher Blinkoff, Mel Brooks

Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky

The Story:

Now that Mavis (Gomez) and Johnathan (Samberg) are married and have a little boy (Blinkoff), Dracula (Sandler) is hoping that he will turn into a vampire before he's 5 so that they will continue to live at the castle with him. It's looking unlikely though, and Mavis is beginning to ponder a life outside of the castle walls.

If you saw the trailer where Dracula lets his grandson fall from the very tall tower, then you know exactly what you're getting from this movie. Dracula wants to make sure his grandson is partially vampire, though everyone else has written him off as just another human.

So part 2 is essentially two road trip movies rolled into one as Dracula and the gang take the boy out on adventures while the happy couple look to see if Mavis can handle life out among the normals.

I really enjoyed the first one.

I also enjoyed the second one, maybe just a little less.

The jokes and characterizations for the first film were all new, so it was all a great new sense of fun.

This time around, you already know roughly what's going to happen, and there isn't a whole lot of surprise.

But don't take that as a negative.  Most sequels don't live up to the original.

The best bits are The Invisible Man (Spade) finding true love, and the genius casting of Vlad (Brooks) for the finale.

If you enjoyed the first film with your family, then this will be a cozy family reunion for you.

Final Grade: B-

The Best of 2013...Part Three...The Animated Movies

Another year, and another wave of decent animated films to enjoy for the whole family.

What I've learned though?

Pixar is slipping, and all of the other studios are closing the gap.

It hasn't translated with many critics and audiences, yet, and that's a shame.

However, if Pixar (and Disney for that matter) wants to retain their crown, they've got to step up their game.

Now, on with the countdown!


Hotel Transylvania -

Sony Animation returns to the best of the year listing with one of Adam Sandler's best performances in ages.  It simply took a cartoon to make it happen.  Surrounded by his usual cohorts, the gang lends their voices to some of horror's finest creatures of the night to bring a coming of age love story between a vampire and a human.  Filled with lowbrow humor (as to be expected) but with a surprising amount of heart it was one of those surprising films to find that I liked it as much as I did.

The Croods -

Conversely, the first of 2 Dreamworks films to hit the list, I was actually a bit disappointed that I didn't like it more than I did.  Perhaps it's the Flintstone factor? ;)  Again, it was good, just not quite as good as I had hoped for.  Sadly, that seems to be the balancing act for animated films: They either miss or shoot well past my expectations.  In 2014, I guess I need to either set the bar really low for every film, or not pay attention to what is coming out until it shows up on my doorstep.

Monsters University -

Pixar returns with a prequel to one of my favorites of all time.  Good, but not great.  That's been the status quo from Pixar for the last 3 years (Cars 2, Brave and now this).  While it was great to have Crystal and Goodman back together again (for the first time!) as Mike and Sulley, it was missing the heart (Boo) that made the first one so memorable for me.

ParaNorman -

I totally expected to hate this one.  Looking an awful lot like a Tim Burton production, which I would have loathed (remember Frankenweenie?) this was a movie that was smart, well-written and had more heart than I ever expected.  Not your typical animated feature, but I think if you've overlooked this one, you've really missed out on an underrated gem.  Streaming on Netflix if you haven't seen it.

Wreck it Ralph -

So close to the best movie on the list.  It was fun. Funny. Well written. Great voice cast. Beautifully lush animation. Wonderful story. Willing to see a sequel.  Just a great fun time.  However, it loses the edge, ever so slightly to the next film on the list.  But when it comes down to it, it's comparing animated apples to animated oranges.  They are both delicious, but they are totally different fruits.  If you want to have a good time for 90 minutes, this is your film right here.  However, if you want to be mesmerized by a story that digs a little bit deeper, then you finish the year with...

Rise of the Guardians -

Dreamworks scores big, at least here, with one of the most hauntingly beautiful animated films you'll get to see.  Everything I said about Wreck it Ralph, Rise of the Guardians does as well.  However, replace Funny with Amusing as the laughs are not nearly as big and broad in this film.  Plus, if your heart strings aren't plucked when you discover Jack's center, you're even colder than Jack Frost is.

:)

Tomorrow: This is it, the best of the best of the year.  Will any of these films from the last three days make the final cut???

Welcome to the "Hotel Transylvania"

How far would you go to keep your child safe from harm?


The Story:

Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) is raising his baby girl all alone.  He wants to make sure that the humans can never harm his precious little girl.  He goes to great lengths to build the safest, most secure castle of all time to keep his sweetheart safe.  But on the eve of her 118th birthday, all of the monsters have come to the castle to attend the annual party that he throws.  The Invisible Man (David Spade) the Wolfman (Steve Buscemi) and his family as well as Frankenstein (Kevin James) and many others drop by to pay their best wishes to Mavis (Selena Gomez).  Her biggest wish is to go out and see the world and see what life is really like out there.  Can humans be as awful as her dad makes them out to be?  Her mom did fall in love with Dracula after all.  So when a human (Andy Samberg) stumbles onto the castle, his very existence threatens the very fabric of all that Dracula has held dear for the last century.


The fact that it's an animated film will scare off most people unless they have kids, then they will wonder, "is it safe for kids?"

The answer to that is: Yes, unless your kid is scared of cartoon monsters.

That Adam Sandler is in it will likely scare off the rest.

Fair enough, he's not everyone's cup of tea.

However, as my loyal audience of readers and my family know, I love Adam Sandler.  I will give just about every movie he does a fair chance, and more often than not, I've enjoyed the films in question.

This one is one of the more enjoyable ones.


Remember the review for "That's My Boy" where I said that Sandler was trying to prove that he could still do R Rated material with the best of them, but that he really tried to hard?

This is the opposite.  He confines himself to PG family humor, and the effect is a heart-warming crowd-pleaser that works.

Why?

It's a love story.

Forget that, it's actually several love stories, rolled into one.

You have the love of a father for his daughter.
You have the love of a husband for his wife.
You have the love of a daughter for her father, yet wanting to grow up and be seen as an adult.
Then you have a love story of boy meeting girl...

And finding out the girl of your dreams is a vampire.

But it works.  It's fun, filled with sight gags and verbal puns galore.

Enjoyed the film, and combine this one with ParaNorman, and I've got a good Halloween double feature of kids films to enjoy this upcoming Halloween season.


Final Grade: B+
Worth Adding to the DVD Collection: Absolutely