Count Dracula (Adam Sandler), proprietor of the Hotel Transylvania, now allows humans as guests. His daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez) weds the mortal Jonathan (Andy Samberg), and they now have a son, Dennis (Asher Blinkoff). Dracula is over the moon for the new little Dhampyr in the Hotel. But by around Dennis's fifth birthday, his vampire qualities haven't kicked in yet. Even worse, Mavis and Jonathan want to move to his home town of Santa Cruz. What's a Drac to do?
So while Mavis and Jonathan vacation in Santa Cruz to visit his family, Count Drac and his Monster buddies take Dennis on a road trip. Perhaps something on their trip will trigger his monster instincts. Or not. And then there's the looming threat of Drac's father, Vlad (Mel Brooks).
Director Genndy Tartakovsky returns to manage the spooktacular dealings. The silly antics are at least worth a chuckle. The cutaway gags, including Bigfoot as a Soccer goalie, were the best jokes. These characters are mostly here to amuse you, not scare you. The worst part of the movie is that a few plot points are repeats from the first movie.
Its production design presents a colorful, Gothic world. The Hotel itself is an alluring spooky castle, just as it was in the first movie. The human world scenes are just as attractive as the castle itself. The only environment meant to be scary was Vlad's dark cave.
Most of the monster characters return from the first film; still, they're all uniquely designed creatures. I also liked Jonathan's homage to The Count's old man form in Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm sure that the designs of Vlad's bat-creature minions, including main minion Bela (Rob Riggle), were homages to that film as well.
Hotel Transylvania 2 is worth checking-in for a matinee stay. It doesn't drown itself in obnoxious humor for the benefit of itself. And it's only 89 minutes long. Let's hope that the inevitable next stay doesn't reset things for itself.
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