HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 (2015)
Blogtober Qua- wait, really? Okay, if you really need it.
Blogtober Qualifications: Vampires, werewolves, mummies, Frankenstein's monster, bat creatures, gingers
*Spoiler warning for Hotel Transylvania (2012), but if you haven't seen that, I do recommend it, it's a lot of fun*
As of the end of the first movie, Mavis (Selena Gomez), the daughter of Dracula (Adam Sandler), and Jonathan (Andy Samberg), regular human male (more or less), are officially a couple.
Things speed along quickly, though, as the two are promptly married. We get to see the festivities, and we also get to speed through the birth of their first child, as well as the first four years of the little tyke's life.
Once that's all said and done, we come to now. We're creeping up on little Dennis' (or Denisovich, whichever you prefer) fifth birthday, and Drac is growing more and more concerned with Dennis' lack of fangs. Apparently if he hits five before the fangs come in, Dennis' chances of being a vampire are kaput. With Mavis considering moving her new family to California, Drac feels compelled to resort to drastic measures to make sure Dennis becomes what he wants him to be.
Okay, so real quick: I had no interest in seeing the first Hotel Transylvania. Some of it was due to how toxic Adam Sandler's presence can be to a movie, but honestly a lot of it was just to do with spite. Hotel Transylvania came out the same years as Frankenweenie, a film that I felt was vastly superior, and yet Hotel Transylvania did zounds better at the box office.
Is that fair? No, not at all. But I made up for it a couple years later, when I actually watched Hotel Transylvania, and I quite enjoyed it. It was fast-paced (but not too much so), clever, and heartfelt. So how does its sequel fare against it?
Well, it's still really good, but it's missing some of the magic of the original. But let me elaborate.
I'm not going to bother going through the actors so much this time around, since most of the cast is the same, and they all do just as well as they did before. I will say that I'm still amazed at just how well Adam Sandler does in the role of Dracula. Sure, it's a lighthearted, comedic Dracula, but he still does a great job, and it's hard to imagine someone else in the role.
So pretty much everybody does well, but I want to highlight (or lowlight) two new additions to the cast.
First off, the bad news. I really hate to say this, but Keegan-Michael Key does not do a good job as Murray, Dracula's mummy friend. Now look, I don't even really like CeeLo Green, who voiced Murray in the first movie. He did a good job as the character, but I'm not a fan of his music and I don't have any strong feelings about him either way. I do like Keegan-Michael Key, and I honestly think he could do well in the role. The problem here is that whoever was in charge decided he should do an impression of CeeLo Green, and it falls very flat. If they had just allowed him to make the role his own, we all would've been better off.
On the other hand is the good news, because late in the movie we meet Dracula's father Vlad, and he's voiced by comedy legend MEL BROOKS, and ho boy is it awesome. It's unfortunate that he doesn't get to do much because he comes in so late, but what we do get is great, and I really hope he's in the next movie (because apparently they're making a third one?). It's especially exciting because I can't think of another opportunity where I'll get to feature Mel Brooks during Blogtober, at least not in an acting role.
The story itself is not too bad. I like that it actually moves the world forward, with there being friendly relations with humans and monsters. I also like that, while it touches on some of the same life lessons, it doesn't rehash the first movie, for the most part. Dennis, Mavis and Jonathan's son, is a really cute character, and even though the story is sort of centered around him, he doesn't take control of the movie, or take focus away from (most of) the main characters.
In regards to the cast of characters, I will say that most of them get almost nothing to do. We have here a veritable cavalcade of comedy stars, but most of their roles amount to barely a cameo. Even some of the major characters don't get very many lines. It doesn't help that we're constantly getting introduced to new characters, who may then may only hang around for a scene or two.
That actually leads me into my biggest complaint with the movie. It lacks cohesion. What is here is, for the most part, pretty enjoyable, and I laughed out loud more than once. The problem is how it's all put together. Very rarely does the story progress from scene to scene to scene telling one long narrative. Instead, what we get is a series of bubble scenes where cool and/or funny things are happening, all under the umbrella of the same story. It feels very episodic in a weird way.
That aspect mostly evens out by the third act, but that's not the only flaw. See, this movie, like the first, was directed by animation mastermind Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of such classics as Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. He's great, and his style of animation translated perfectly in the first movie. It was widely praised for its fast-paced, smooth animations. Here, though, it's not as spot-on. I can't believe I'm saying this, but sometimes it almost feels too fast. Like we aren't even given time to appreciate what we just saw before we're whipped into a new wacky situation. Two scenes later, however, we'll hang on what should be a funny joke for just a little too long, so that it goes from funny to slow.
None of this ultimately weighs down the movie in any significant way. If it sounds like I'm ripping the movie apart, I guess that's only because I noticed the flaws more this time around. Still, I had a good time, and I really enjoyed myself. If you're a fan of the first movie, I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't like this one.
Tomorrow we look at one of the original found-footage movies. And no, it's not the one you're thinking of. Unless it is. Good job if it is.
Until next time!
Current interests:
Listening - Nothing because my wife is using the Spotify account! (2017)
Playing - Banjo-Kazooie (1998)
Reading - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Exorcist (2016)
Watching - Thunderbirds Are Go! (2015)
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