TRYING TO SCARE UP LAUGHS
Hotel Transylvania 2 purely kids’ stuff
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2
½ Starring: Selena Gomez, Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, Mel Brooks Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky Running time: 89 minutes The bar for animated films is incredibly high, so much so that when Pixar released Inside Out earlier this year, the only complaint that could be mustered was over the cartoon short that preceded it in theatres.
It’s no longer enough that cartoons entertain our children; they have to amuse us as well.
They have to stimulate us emotionally and offer a comment on our culture either through satire or allegory. It’s a tall order, but we’ve been treated so well by Pixar and Disney recently that we’ve begun taking good cartoons for granted. This typically lasts right up until the point we see a mediocre one, and it becomes painfully obvious we should be more appreciative of what we’ve already seen.
Hotel Transylvania 2 wants desperately to be the type of animated film we take for granted, but it only succeeds in reminding us of the better cartoons released before it.
This is doubly sad because stripped down — without it trying to be something more than it is — there’s a really fun 30- minute Saturday morning cartoon in there.
We pick up where the first Hotel Transylvania left off. Dracula ( Adam Sandler) is overseeing the wedding of Johnny ( Andy Samberg) and his daughter Mavis ( Selena Gomez) — the movie makes full use of the laughs to be had by human/ monster couplings coming down the aisle together ( they both think the other is yuck).
It’s here where we’re first introduced to Dracula’s uninvited father Vlad ( Mel Brooks), who’s too old school to accept human/ vampire intermarriage. But as quickly as he’s mentioned, he’s forgotten until needed later in the story.
Settling into married life takes little time at all for the newlyweds and soon after the nuptials, Mavis tells Dracula he’s going to be a vampa ( grandpa and vampire).
Dennis ( or Denisovic, according to Dracula) spends the first five years of his life growing up in the now human- friendly hotel. Despite Mavis’ attempts to shelter her young son from the dangers of monsters in his midst, Dracula is there constantly trying to bring out the vampire in him. If the youngster doesn’t spout fangs by his fifth birthday, it will be hopeless.
After contriving a scenario in which the two parents leave for a trip to California, Dracula and his monster buddies go on a road trip with Dennis to make those fangs drop. Of course, the scheme fails, enrages the protective Mavis and sets up her not-a- threat- it’s- apromise to leave Transylvania with her family for California permanently.
But not after a fifth birthday party at the hotel, to which great grand vampa Vlad gets an invite despite Dracula’s protests. This is where the movie is at its finest, creating a funny rouse with humans pretending to be monsters and some tense action with Vlad’s minions ( not those kind) not falling for it.
It’s in that lengthy middle where the film gets lost. There’s no real point in going on a journey except that it’s what other more successful animated films have done, and I guess it’s a good opportunity to add gags for each of the individual monster characters so that their inclusion in Happy Meals won’t be for naught.
But let’s be honest. This movie isn’t made for us. The target audience for Hotel Transylvania 2 likely represents the best age for unfettered joy at the movies, when just going to the cinema remains a thrill.
They’re not going to have a problem with plot contrivances, mixed messages or overplayed jokes. And there’s enough sight gags and funny references to keep them entertained, which is really the only thing that’s important.
Oh, to be young again.