The original Hotel Transylvania proved a neat little surprise for Sony. Having been stuck in development since 2002, the movie went on to gross 358 million dollars worldwide out of a relatively small budget (for an animated film) of 85 million.
So here we are 3 years later and Hotel Transylvania 2 has arrived with the same director and (mostly) the same cast. Now we all know that sequels are a tough nut to crack, the animation genre is filled with unnecessary and bland sequels (Rio 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Cars 2, everything after Shrek 2). But if done right, sequels to animated movies, and sequels in general, can stand on their own as being as good as the original or superior to them (The Toy Story sequels, How to Train Your Dragon 2). Hotel Transylvania 2 is not the latter.
The story this time around is that Jonathan and Mavis, the lovers from the first film, are now married and have their own child, named Dennis. Mavis is worried about her son's safety so she and Jonathan venture off to California to look for a new place to raise their boy in. They leave Dennis with Dracula while they leave which, of course, is a bad idea.
From there on the story revolves mostly around Dracula and pals trying to bring out the inner monster in Dennis since Dracula sees him being a regular human as a bit of a letdown.
So what did I like about this movie? Well the animation is the same as in the last one, that is to say gorgeous but it does look bland in a few places. And the voice cast does pretty well as their characters. There's a joke or gag every minute so that'll definitely keep kids entertained (and maybe bring out a chuckle or two from adults) and surprisingly, there's no fart jokes at all!
So the movie does offer a fun time but a gripe I have with the movie is how frantic it is. Characters in the film are constantly one upping themselves in terms of how unbelievably ridiculous they can be to the point where I could barely keep up with what was going on in the frame. I'm sure it's to keep the kids in their seats and interested in the movie but it just felt like too much.
My second biggest problem with the film is how forced the third act is. So up until like 3/4ths of the way into the movie I realized that there was no actual antagonist. This isn't a problem of course, films like Inside Out have shown that you don't need villains in animated films. Then the third act rolls around and we finally get an antagonist. He's some sort of bat creature who (SPOILER ALERT) has some sort of thing going on with Dracula's dad, Vlad.
Now let me clarify on something here, the advertisements for this movie have made a big point of showing that Dracula's dad is in this movie. The truth is he's in this movie for like 10 minutes tops and does nothing really. He rolls in around the last 30 minutes of the movie.
So anyways it's never clarified what the antagonist's relationship is with Vlad. Is he his brother? Cousin? Roommate? It's never mentioned! So he shows up in the last 30 minutes and begins his evil-doing for about 5 minutes. However he doesn't work in the movie because he's not given a set up or does anything that's antagonist worthy. We're given only the vaguest of ideas as to what his evil plan is, if he even had one. And to add into the overall disjointed final act the movie ends with a battle against bat minions that looks like the ending of a Marvel movie. It makes no sense tonally when compared to the rest of the movie.
But my biggest problem with this movie is something that plagues a lot of movies today but it particularly troubled me in this movie and that is the product placement.
Every single character in this movie uses a Sony product. Even the monsters! A subplot of this movie is Dracula's inability to use a cellphone and I'd say that about 5 minutes of the movie is devoted to characters using products that prominently feature the Sony logo. This is not acceptable in an animated movie about monsters, if I remember correctly Monsters University didn't have product placement. It's so out of place here that it took me out of the movie.
Something else here that troubles me is the missed story opportunities here. So due to the ending of the original Hotel Transylvania, monsters are now accepted everywhere. That boggled my mind, monsters are showing being married to regular human beings and being accepted by the rest of the planet with no mention as to how governments are reacting to this or if people are freaked out.
Now I know this might be too much for a kid's movie but wouldn't it have been a lot more interesting of a movie if it was about how the rest of the world reacts to the sudden knowledge that MONSTERS HAVE BEEN LIVING AMONG THEM THE ENTIRE TEAM?
So overall Hotel Transylvania 2 is not as good as the original. While the original had a neat story and clever ideas this one seems to be more like a second thought. It's just entertainment for your kids, none of Pixar's adult storytelling is here and that's okay if you're just looking to pass an hour.
I'm going to give Hotel Transylvania 2 a C-
So here we are 3 years later and Hotel Transylvania 2 has arrived with the same director and (mostly) the same cast. Now we all know that sequels are a tough nut to crack, the animation genre is filled with unnecessary and bland sequels (Rio 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Cars 2, everything after Shrek 2). But if done right, sequels to animated movies, and sequels in general, can stand on their own as being as good as the original or superior to them (The Toy Story sequels, How to Train Your Dragon 2). Hotel Transylvania 2 is not the latter.
The story this time around is that Jonathan and Mavis, the lovers from the first film, are now married and have their own child, named Dennis. Mavis is worried about her son's safety so she and Jonathan venture off to California to look for a new place to raise their boy in. They leave Dennis with Dracula while they leave which, of course, is a bad idea.
From there on the story revolves mostly around Dracula and pals trying to bring out the inner monster in Dennis since Dracula sees him being a regular human as a bit of a letdown.
So what did I like about this movie? Well the animation is the same as in the last one, that is to say gorgeous but it does look bland in a few places. And the voice cast does pretty well as their characters. There's a joke or gag every minute so that'll definitely keep kids entertained (and maybe bring out a chuckle or two from adults) and surprisingly, there's no fart jokes at all!
So the movie does offer a fun time but a gripe I have with the movie is how frantic it is. Characters in the film are constantly one upping themselves in terms of how unbelievably ridiculous they can be to the point where I could barely keep up with what was going on in the frame. I'm sure it's to keep the kids in their seats and interested in the movie but it just felt like too much.
My second biggest problem with the film is how forced the third act is. So up until like 3/4ths of the way into the movie I realized that there was no actual antagonist. This isn't a problem of course, films like Inside Out have shown that you don't need villains in animated films. Then the third act rolls around and we finally get an antagonist. He's some sort of bat creature who (SPOILER ALERT) has some sort of thing going on with Dracula's dad, Vlad.
Now let me clarify on something here, the advertisements for this movie have made a big point of showing that Dracula's dad is in this movie. The truth is he's in this movie for like 10 minutes tops and does nothing really. He rolls in around the last 30 minutes of the movie.
So anyways it's never clarified what the antagonist's relationship is with Vlad. Is he his brother? Cousin? Roommate? It's never mentioned! So he shows up in the last 30 minutes and begins his evil-doing for about 5 minutes. However he doesn't work in the movie because he's not given a set up or does anything that's antagonist worthy. We're given only the vaguest of ideas as to what his evil plan is, if he even had one. And to add into the overall disjointed final act the movie ends with a battle against bat minions that looks like the ending of a Marvel movie. It makes no sense tonally when compared to the rest of the movie.
But my biggest problem with this movie is something that plagues a lot of movies today but it particularly troubled me in this movie and that is the product placement.
Every single character in this movie uses a Sony product. Even the monsters! A subplot of this movie is Dracula's inability to use a cellphone and I'd say that about 5 minutes of the movie is devoted to characters using products that prominently feature the Sony logo. This is not acceptable in an animated movie about monsters, if I remember correctly Monsters University didn't have product placement. It's so out of place here that it took me out of the movie.
Something else here that troubles me is the missed story opportunities here. So due to the ending of the original Hotel Transylvania, monsters are now accepted everywhere. That boggled my mind, monsters are showing being married to regular human beings and being accepted by the rest of the planet with no mention as to how governments are reacting to this or if people are freaked out.
Now I know this might be too much for a kid's movie but wouldn't it have been a lot more interesting of a movie if it was about how the rest of the world reacts to the sudden knowledge that MONSTERS HAVE BEEN LIVING AMONG THEM THE ENTIRE TEAM?
So overall Hotel Transylvania 2 is not as good as the original. While the original had a neat story and clever ideas this one seems to be more like a second thought. It's just entertainment for your kids, none of Pixar's adult storytelling is here and that's okay if you're just looking to pass an hour.
I'm going to give Hotel Transylvania 2 a C-