<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Starring the voice talent of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Megan Mullally, Mel Brooks, Nick Offerman, Dana Carvey, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon

 Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Dracula and his ghoulish gang are back and they’re funny to a point of blood simmering but not boiling.

The gags and humour of the first Hotel Transylvania were distinctly different and adult from most other animated films. Probably because of Adam Sandler’s unique take on subject matter and the fact that he has his band of ‘merry men’ friends who he ropes in to give character to these monsters.

In part two, Dracula (Adam Sandler) is proud granddad to his daughter Mavis’s (Selena Gomez) half-Vampire, half human son Dennis. He’s hoping the little tyke takes after his granpa, being a late ‘fanger’! He also doesn’t want Mavis and her husband Jonathan (Andy Samberg) to leave the hotel for more human pastures to raise their son. So he the gang must put the little one through a series of monster missions to prove that he is as wicked and villainous as the rest of them, which turns out to be a very tall order but makes for some gag-infused scenes that are laced with observations about modern-day parenting and the loss of innocence (and being frightened of monsters!).

Hotel Transylvania is a modern and surprisingly adult in its dialogue and humour. There are lots of little references to old horror films woven in like a GPS voice that gives directions in an old-style Vampire voice with references to vintage film dialogue that’s hilarious. Sony product placement in their own films is a given and in this one you’ll be blind as a bat if you don’t see the Sony Mobile phones they’re constantly using to video chat and navigate on. A lot of the jokes are decidedly slapstick and some are a bit sexual. There’s a clever take on the Invisible Man’s ‘girlfriend’.

The end is a bit unoriginal but it’s decent enough fun while you’re watching it.