HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 review

Hotel Transylvania opens its doors for a second time, but is it worth a return visit for your little monsters..?

Hotel Transylvania 2, like its predecessor, is genuinely clever, visually imaginative and emotionally resonate, which begs the question: If Adam Sandler has the potential to do this in him, why is he making crap like Jack and Jill and That’s My Boy?

The first instalment started with a funny premise: A hotel for monsters run by Adam Sandler’s Dracula who played the character as an overprotective father. When Dracula’s daughter (Selena Gomez) falls in love with a human (Andy Samberg), he learns the world has embraced monsters.

In the sequel, Dracula is desperate to ensure his half human/half vampire grandson (Asher Blinkoff) develops his vampire side.

Sandler co-wrote both Hotel Transylvania movies, and the voice cast is full of his usual troupe of regulars, including David Spade (as an invisible man named Griffin), Kevin James (as the Frankenstein monster) and Steve Buscemi (as a werewolf named Wayne). Keegan Michael-Key replaces CeeLo Green as the mummy Murray.

There are two major factors that help raise this burgeoning franchise above the typical Sandler fare: Director Genndy Tartakovsky and co-writer Robert Smigel.

Tartakovsky was the creative force behind the shows The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory. His animation style is bright, colourful and zippy without being overly manic. His character designs have a distinct look that distinguishes his work from the likes of Pixar and DreamWorks.

Tartakovsky takes the time to set up gags and to create set pieces that are both funny and visually interesting. This is truer of the first Hotel Transylvania which had the unexpected fight/chase sequence on flying table.

As is often the problem with sequels, with the tone already established, it is more difficult to surprise, but a climactic battle is excitingly and amusingly staged.

Smigel was a writer for Saturday Night Live for more than 20 years as well as writing for Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where he created Triumph, the Insult Dog. As a writer, his sense of humour his dark and sarcastic with a strong satirical voice. This balances out Sandler’s more juvenile tendencies.

Sandler is at his best when he gives himself over to someone else’s vision. This was true of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love and Judd Apatow’s Funny People. Even in the flawed Spanglish and Reign Over Me, Sandler did some of his best acting because he was working with directors who held him to a higher standard.

Too often, Sandler’s self-produced films are directed by and star his buddies, meaning the films are made in an echo chamber. When this happens, Sandler isn’t challenging himself or growing.

The Hotel Transylvania films work because they pair Sandler’s sensibilities with people who are willing to push his humour in different directions. In the process, the films capture the magic of Sandler’s earlier work that he repeatedly fails to replicate on his own.

Sandler can still work with his friends — as he did here — but if he is also willing to collaborate, his career can grow well into the future.

3 ½ out of 5

Alec Kerr