RageLite review - Hotel Transylvania 2 (A Strange Halloween 2)

A Hotel for monsters, cliché, what a bore

But something about it left folks wanting more

Was it the crisp animation, fluid and quick

Or was it the story, that thought makes me sick

The child of Dracula meets the guy of her dreams

But true love is not always as it seems

Will the sequel zing, a love that is true?

A Strange Halloween: Hotel Transylvania 2

Hotel Transylvania 2 came out in 2015, with much of the same cast and crew as the first one, the only difference I can see is in the writers. Before, Robert Smigel and Peter Baynham wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Todd Durham, and Dan and Kevin Hageman, this time Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel wrote the story themselves.

The movie was successful, making $473m on a $80m budget but that doesn’t mean it faired any better critically, it didn’t.

Over the course of the years that followed the first movie, Mavis and Johnny married, Mavis got pregnant. They had a boy they named Dennis (Asher Blinkoff), and he soon grows to being 5 years old, raised in the castle all that time. Mavis is concerned that, since he doesn’t seem to be showing any vampiric behaviours, he’s likely human and should probably live amongst them.

From this setup we basically get 2 separate narratives that follow on from one another. The first, and I only loosely call it a narrative, is Count Dracula looking after the baby and taking him to his old haunts to try and get him to show has vampiric side, through various hijinks and the second is the 5^th birthday party and the introduction of Count Dracula’s father Vlad (Mel Brooks), who hates humans and has an army of Bat-monsters at his side.

Hotel Transylvania 2 feels kinda like a television pilot with 3 inter-connected stories making up the show. There is really not much plot in any of these 3 segments but that’s not necessarily a bad thing and as the light plot allows for more time to be dedicated to the comedy, which in my opinion is a slight step up over the last one, giving a bit more personality to a select number of the supporting cast, Frankenstein’s Monster (Kevin James), Murray (Keegan Michael-Kay), Wayne (Steve Buscemi) and Griffin (David Spade) whilst they’re not overflowing with character they do provide some comedy to help with the situation.

Vlad is not very interesting as an antagonist because he outright refuses to do anything of interest whatsoever. He’s charming, and has a couple of good jokes but his ultimate impact on the narrative is minimal, despite being labelled as the villain. His hatred of humans is barely explored and his change of heart is right out of the blue. The leader of the Bat army Bela (Rob Riggle) is not especially compelling either, as his hatred of humans isn’t explored either, and I’m not entirely sure why he persists after finding out that Dennis is a vampire, but he does allow for an entertaining action scene to finish the movie.

It ends with a dance party because of course it does, how else did you expect it to end.

Dracula here is less likeable, particularly in story 2, where he's trying to get Dennis to show his vampiric side. He deliberately goes against his daughter’s wishes to satiate his own selfish desires. A trait you could argue is a common problem with the original, this movie, and the dog short I’m probably only gonna cover in minor detail next time. That being said, Adam Sandler continues to make him charming and his decisions are born out of love, I’ll say that much about him.

There are some jokes that have just stayed out their welcome now. The monster that eats things and then says ‘I didn’t do that’ was funny during the action scene, as it provides new context, but it didn’t need a reprisal after, and I just don’t get the whole ‘bleh bleh bleh’ bit that they continue to peddle despite me being unable to make sense of it.

The soundtrack is padded with modern songs, which makes the movie seem incredibly dated in 2019, it’s a minor problem

Hotel Transylvania 2 is funnier than its predecessor with fewer scenes that rely purely on movement, the animation remains crisp and exaggerated but the narrative feels weirdly disjointed and repeats beats from the first one.

Rating 55/100