Hotel Transylvania 2: Creepy CG Cartoons

(c) Sony Animation Pictures

Hotel Transylvania was a dark horse that brought Sony Animation Studios their most successful film and brought the audience one of the funniest animated films; now, quite unexpectedly, Hotel Transylvania 2 surpasses its original film in humor, charm, and story.

The movie is well-animated, perhaps better so than the original. The original film stretched the abilities of CG by purposely styling it like a 2D cartoon; the sequel retains that Looney Tunes feel with even more squash and stretch, more flexibility, and creativity that most CG films leave behind when they try to be closer to live-action.

Most of the cast reprised their roles, including Drac's pack of monsters: Frankie the Frankenstein monster (Kevin James), Wayne the werewolf (Steve Buscemi), Murray the mummy (Keegan-Michael Key), and Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade). They all have larger roles in this film, exploring their powers in an attempt to help Dennis "fang." The breakout stars were clearly Johnny's family, almost all of which have red hair, except Johnny's mother Linda (Megan Mullally), who created a hilariously accurate portrayal of the suburban mom. Mullally's voice is the awkward suburban mom who has good intentions but just doesn't know when to stop. Mel Brooks appears as vampire Vlad, a very anti-human and demonic sort of vampire, with all of his great verbal humor, though his character is not very deep; this more two-dimensional quality, however, is less Brooks' fault than the writer's.

While well-written by Robert Smigel, several parts recognizable from the trailer felt forced into the film, as if Sony felt an obligation to use all the pieces they showed the audience before. The opening is a montage quickly bringing the audience up to speed on what's happening at the hotel, and it works - it's a cute high-speed time lapse full of little details viewers will enjoy catching. In this film, the story is more prevalent, decreasing the number of gags but increasing their quality. The story is simple - Drac wants Dennis to "fang" so Mavis won't move out to California - but the plot takes turns the audience doesn't expect: is Dennis a vampire? The audience really won't know the answer until the very end. Some of the newer characters, especially Vlad, were less explored than supporting characters from the previous film were.

The evolving relationship between humans and monsters is a fascinating subplot to the overall story and manifests itself in several comedic ways - Drac's smartphone problems, social media for the hotel, and the unexpected look at "mixed" (monster and human) marriages. A main part of the original film was humans' acceptance of monsters so it follows that this film should explore the other side: Drac's, and the monsters', acceptance of humans, despite their still many flaws.

Hotel Transylvania 2 is a hilarious and heartwarming adventure that kids of any age will enjoy. Check out the trailer below:

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