Hotel Transylvania 2 (Just in time for Jan. 12 Blue Ray DVD Release)

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky        

Lead Actors: Adam Sandler,
 Andy Samberg,
 Selena Gomez,
 Kevin James, Steve Buscemi,
David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Fran Drescher,  Megan Mullally, Dana Carvey, Mel Brooks, Chris Kattan, Jon Lovittz

Producer: Allen Covert

Plot Synopsis: Dracula, played by Adam Sandler, is now a successful Hotel Owner and Manager in Transylvania. He has employed all of his old friends at the hotel, including The Blob, Frankenstein, Werewolf, The Invisible Man and many, many more.

Much to Dracula's chagrin, he has also had to employ Jonathan, his dopey new son-in-law from Santa Cruz, played by Andy Samberg.

Jonathan has an easy, vague marketing/human resources job under Dracula at the Hotel. He continues to recommend humanizing the hotel a little more, and Dracula keeps turning him down. 

The big news in this second installment is that Dracula's daughter, Mavis, played by Selena Gomez, is pregnant.

This excites everyone. It also creates tension because Dracula is desperate to extend his family lineage, and it appears as if Jonathon and Mavis' child may be his only opportunity to do this.

When the child comes out a boy, this is good...but Dracula wants more. He wants to know if the child will be a human who turns into  a vampire, or just a human. At first, it appears as if the child is simply a nice little boy.

Dracula, restless, takes matters into his own hands by trying to scare the fangs out of the boy. This, he says, is a trick his father Vlad used on him.

He gathers all of his cronies: Wolf Man, Zombie, The Blob, The Invisible Man and they embark on a road trip. The purpose of the road trip is to help the boy become his true monster self. Even children viewers can see that the road trip doubles as a way for these monsters to rediscover their youthful, monster selves. 

Dracula et al romp through the greater Transylvania area, and visit all their old "haunts" and try to show the boy the "virtues" of being part monster by revisiting their own ghoulish pasts.  

Who Would Like it and Why
Sandler fan and  also fans of Robert Smigel. This was co-written by Robert Smigel and Adam Sandler, who first teamed together so many years ago at Saturday Night Live - Smigel head writer there and Adam Sandler an actor. Smigel was a mentor to Sandler when Sandler first worked for the show. Later, Smigel went on to head write for Conan O'Brien. One of Smigel's more popular creations while at Saturday Night Live was the cartoon, "Ace and Gary, the ambiguously gay duo".

Sander and Smigel find the  humor both for children and adults, in Transylvania. The animation was good and showed the monster's soft and gooey sides.


Who Might not Like it and Why
In the past, many have found Adam Sandler
 obnoxious as the lead in his own movies. He has out-aged his good looks and let's face it, his acting chops were never that great in the first place. Here he does an OK job as the voice of Dracula, the doting and overbearing father, and now grandfather.

Highlights/Top Scenes
Dracula thinks that he will get his grandchild to fly for the first time by throwing him off a very high up structure. 

He throws the kid off a very high building, and the kid doesn't show any signs of flying so Dracula has to dive down and catch the child who is hurling towards earth. This is all caught on several smart phones and a social media mash-up is made from the incident.

All of Dracula's monster friends are overweight and past their prime, and about as scary as Teddy Bears. The werewolf has literally exchanged his tattered clothing to a white shirt, tie and pants. He also has a littler of 300 puppies who have worn him thin. He walks with a hunched back and a slightly resigned way about him.

The blob proves to be critical in the plot as he can carry anything inside of him and also can be blown up into a giant flying raft.

Gomez is great as Mavis, the still youthful and exuberant yet careful and doting mother.

Three Mike and Ikes.

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