Film Review: "Hotel Transylvania 2" (2015).

The tagline of the film reads "Drac's pack is back", and that it is exactly what it is in Hotel Transylvania 2. This computer animated fantasy-comedy sequel to the 2012 film Hotel Transylvania. The film is again directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, and produced by Sony Pictures Animation. Taking place seven years after the first film, Dracula and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson in order to keep Mavis from leaving the hotel.

Director Genndy Tartakovsky commented about the possibility of the sequel in October 2012, "Everyone is talking about it, but we haven't started writing it. There are a lot of fun ideas we could totally play with. It's a ripe world." On November 9, 2012, it was announced that a sequel had been greenlit, and was scheduled for release on September 25, 2015. On March 12, 2014, it was announced that Tartakovsky would return to direct the sequel, even though he was originally too busy due to his developing an adaptation of Popeye.

Original voices from the first film - Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon—returned for the sequel, with Keegan-Michael Key replacing CeeLo Green as Murray. New additions to the cast include Mel Brooks as Count Dracula's father, Vlad; Nick Offerman and Megan Mullallyas Jonathan's parents, Mike and Linda; and Asher Blinkoff as Mavis and Johnny's half-human/half-vampire son, Dennis. The cast gave hilarious performances despite falling flat with the jokes here and there. Kudos to Sandler, Samberg and Gomez giving another great round. I would also like to note the performance of Brooks as Vlad. He gave a wonderfully memorable performance. Too bad he showed up in the last 15 minutes of the film. I also have to note the adorable and memorable performance of Blinkoff as Dennis. He gave one of the cutest performances I have seen for a animated character. Truly of the few highlights for the film.

While not as clever or inventive as its predecessor, Hotel Transylvania 2 compensates with enough dazzling visuals to keep younger viewers entertained, especially for the Halloween season. At its heart, the film is fun, even if it is occasionally so chaotic it swarms and tramples the movie's flow like Wayne's 30 children. It's loud, weird and chaotic - just as kids like it. There's plenty of screaming and running while arms flail about, and even the obligatory message bit is given a healthy dose of scares. Your car ride back from the theater won't be a quiet one, but sometimes it's good to have a sugary treat. Unfortunately though, the film promised more fun and laughs than it delivers, and like too many animated sequels before it, that had gone out the window before it made it to the final act. In the end, It's one of the rare sequels that tries to take the spirit of the original and tries to come up with something uniquely good in its own right.

Simon says Hotel Transylvania 2 receives:

Also, see my review for Hotel Transylvania.