By Cynthia Ayala

Dracula has opened the doors to Hotel Transylvania to humans and with his daughter Mavis marrying Johnny and giving birth to his half-human grandson, Dennis, Dracula is softening up to the humans. But when Dennis isn’t showing his vampire teeth, Dracula becomes worried. So while Mavis and Johnny are away Drac enlists his friends to help him put the boy through a “monster-in-training” boot camp. But things get batty when Drac’s cantankerous, old school dad Vlad pays an unexpected visit.

An adorable and outstanding film. Released on September 25 of 2015, this film brings back the original cast of the film and brings back the charm of it as well.

Hotel Transylvania 2 brings back a little horror and laughter in this heartwarming tale about acceptance and family. Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) has married a human, much to the cringe of her father. But here he has accepted humans into the fold, acknowledging that they have changed through the centuries. This gives him some piece of mind as he opens up the doors of his horror hotel to bring humans and monsters together.

But when his own grandson appears more human than vampire Dracula begins to take drastic steps to bring out the fans in his little grandson to make him more vampire than human.

This film has a surprisingly sophisticated undertone about parents and family accepting those in their lives that are different than them. A “normal” family accepting an abnormal child and vice versa. That is the center of this story and parents, when taking their kids to this film should see that surprisingly sophisticated undertone within it. Sure, this movie has a lot of laughs and great animation behind it, but the heart and the emotional connection to the characters is what elevates this film from other childish films. So yes, this film is sure going to distract the little ones for a while but it also teaches, and that is what makes an animated kids film a good film for the kids, because it’s not a mindless mess of cartoonish characters getting lost in their own humor and comical stupidity.

Another redeeming facet of this film is the pace and how it coincides with telling the story. For kids, the action has to be quick, the story has to keep moving and the comedy has to be there in order to retain their attention. This film does this without sacrificing the essence and the teaching lessons of the story to accept those who are different.

Don’t let the fact that Adam Sandler wrote this movie put you off from watching it because he wrote it for his kids, to give his own children, one of which voices the young wolf-pup Winnie, something worth their time to watch. Don’t think about Adam Sandler the goof who makes stupid films, thing of Adam Sandler the father when you take this into account because, much like the first film, his fatherly instincts resonate through the screen and out for the viewers.

Hotel Transylvania 2 is a perfect family film that the entire family with enjoy, and it’s a great Halloween feature just for the Holiday.

– Film Credits –

Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky

Written by Robert Smigel & Adam Sandler

Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Keegan-Michael Key, Molly Shannon, Fran Drescher & Mel Brooks

Genres | Rating | Length: Comedy, Fantasy, Animated | PG | 1 hr. 29 min.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment