Hotel Transylvania Unworthy of a Return Visit
It’s been a little over five years since Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) opened up Hotel Transylvania to human guests. In that time he’s seen Californian Jonathan (Andy Samberg) marry his darling daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez), the two of them having a son, Dennis (Asher Blinkoff), who is about to celebrate his fifth birthday. That’s a pretty big one as far as vampires are concerned, especially regarding hybrid children. It’s at that point they’ll either develop their fangs or remain completely human, and Dracula is eager to see his little grandson inherent his supernatural bloodsucking abilities.
PHOTO: Sony
There’s not all that much more to Hotel Transylvania 2. As sequels go, it’s pretty simple and straightforward, writers Sandler and Robert Smigel (who also wrote the 2012 original) not exactly digging deep as far as lot is concerned. There are little asides, most notably a foray back to California for Jonathan in order for Mavis to spend some time with his human parents (Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally), the two making the trip in order to decide if they want to raise Dennis there and not back at the hotel. But, really, this is just a grandfather-grandchild tale where the older learns to love the younger no matter who he turns out to be, everything building to a warm and fuzzy scenario of self-acceptance and familial love that’s fairly by-the-numbers.
Which would be relatively okay save for two factors, the first being the overall laziness permeating things. While there are a handful of amusing vignettes, overall Sandler and Smigel haven’t worked that hard to give any of this depth. Heck, they’ve barely manufactured reasons for this sequel to exist in the first place, coming up with a series of quirky or unusual ideas only to have not done the work to flesh them our or give them thematic context. Characterizations are as thin as ever (no surprise if you’ve seen the first film, I realize) only this time out everyone tends to spend a great deal of time and effort talking over one another in melodramatic platitudes, this having the unintended consequence of imbuing things with a blasé emotional sheen that’s drearily pedestrian.
It’s that second item that’s the real issue, however. There’s a subplot concerning Dracula’s father, an old school vamp named Vlad (Mel Brooks) who hates humans more than anything on Earth. Not only does the film waste the legendary Brooks on a throwaway part well beneath his massive comedic talents, the way things are orchestrated in order to get him to fall head-over-heels in love with his great-grandchild is insulting. The whole premise driving things is unceremoniously thrown out with the bathwater, this tale of acceptance anything but as the only way everyone comes together as a family is if they do so by becoming exactly what others want them to be.
PHOTO: Sony
That’s a little harsh, yet not near as much so as one might want to initially think. But thanks to the way the climax comes together whether intentional or not (and I’ll lean towards not, if only out of kindness) it feels that way nonetheless. Dennis’ sojourn isn’t his own, his self-empowerment coming in a form that contradicts every step of his journey that came before it. The disservice done to the character made me feel moderately sick to my stomach, reactions like that not exactly one I was hoping to have as far as family-friendly pieces of animated entertainment were concerned.
Not that I hated Hotel Transylvania 2. With a returning voice cast that includes the likes of Steve Buscemi, Kevin James, Keegan-Michael Key, Fran Drescher and Molly Shannon, with a small handful of inspired sight gags involving zombies, werewolf pups and gigantic monster feet (not to mention the glorious return of the “I didn’t do that” ghoul), there are laughs to be found. There’s just no reason to care, nothing that matters, and when that’s added to the unforgivable disservice done to the newest character, Dennis, the overall effect isn’t just disappointing, it’s downright horrifying.
Film Rating: 1½ (out of 4)
