Until Grown Ups 2 graced his resume, Adam Sandler hadn’t made a follow-up to one of his films. His comedic stylings may have remained largely unchanged across the bulk of his output; however he had never overtly retraced the same exact territory. Animated effort Hotel Transylvania 2 might mark only the second time the actor has gone back for another serving, but it still proves a routine experience. Surprises are few, broad all-ages attempts at humour reigns, and following a template wins out.
In 2012’s Hotel Transylvania, vampire innkeeper Count Dracula (Sandler, Pixels) and his band of merry misfits had to learn to accept those less monstrous. His daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez, Behaving Badly) was the catalyst, as she reached maturity and warmed to backpacker Jonathan (Andy Samberg, TV’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine), even though he was human. This time around, the same us-versus-them mindset remains after the happy couple gets married, the birth of their son Dennis (feature debutant Asher Blinkoff) adding a new cause of tension. Dracula does everything he can to coax out the boy’s vampish side, while Mavis contemplates relocating her family away from her haunted home so that Dennis can have a normal childhood.
Cue two reiterated refrains: the culture clash that gives this duo of features its basis, and the coming-of-age considerations that are intended to provide emotional depth beyond the formulaic narrative. Cue a rehashed subversion of character dynamics, too, with Dracula the character in need of growing up and opening his mind in both scenarios, Mavis wiser than her years and Jonathan the comic foil between them. Hotel Transylvania 2 merely injects a new character into the mix, then repeats the beats of its predecessor. Alas, the problems of the first film also return, namely a scenario with a sliver of promise given a scant, sitcom-like storyline and used as little more than a gag reel for Sandler and the rest of his vocal crew.
Those other players include Frankenstein’s creature (Kevin James, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2) and his wife Eunice (Fran Drescher, Happily Divorced), werewolves Wayne (Steven Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire) and Wanda (Molly Shannon, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp) and Griffin the Invisible Man (David Spade, Entourage), although their contributions are more concerned with delivering cheesy jokes than demonstrating voice acting skills. Series newcomers Keegan-Michael Key (Key and Peele), Megan Mullally (Childrens Hospital) and Nick Offerman (Fargo) fare better, the former taking over the role of Murray the Mummy, the latter two playing Jonathan’s parents, and all benefiting from roles that don’t just require them to make wisecracks in silly accents.
A few well-cast supporting parts can’t improve the film’s fortunes, though, just as sprinkling in a small number of references to other spooky, monster-focused pop culture artefacts can’t temper what is otherwise an onslaught of mundane antics. Returning director Genndy Tartakovsky (Star Wars: Clone Wars) might ensure that Hotel Transylvania 2 is fast-paced and visually energetic as it flits between episodic attempts to turn a kid into a creature of the night and clumsy messages of acceptance; however fellow second-timer, writer Robert Smigel (Saturday Night Live), demonstrates little spirit for anything other than going through the motions in the script he crafts with Sandler. Sequels frequently repeat the strengths of their precursors, but Hotel Transylvania 2 stretches an average effort even further into lacklustre territory. Even if his voice is heard rather than his face seen, the family-oriented feature proves both a flimsy follow-up to standard, derivative Sandler offering, and a standard, derivative Sandler offering in its own right.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Hotel Transylvania 2
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
USA, 2015, 89 mins
Release date: November 26
Distributor: Sony
Rating: PG
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