Hotel Transylvania 2

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Writers: Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler
Stars: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez
Strengths: Fitting Sequel, Story
Weakness: Soundtrack
Runtime: 89 minutes
Rating: 4.5/5

Plot: Dracula and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson in order to keep his daughter Mavis from leaving the hotel.

Review: The film picks up right where the first left off, Mavis and Johnny getting ready to be married. Soon after, the movie skips a few years to show the birth of their first child, Dennis, which raises tension between Count Dracula and Mavis as to whether Dennis is human or vampire, as the former would mean that they would have to leave the hotel and live with humans. In desperation, the count does everything in his power to make sure Dennis is indeed vampire and that no one has to move, and this pretty much makes up the rest of the film.

The first film wasn't expected to be that big, but it managed to become quite a success, leading to the makers to decide on making this franchise into a trilogy and a planned TV series as well. Now, there was a bit of apprehension of whether the sequel would be as good as the original as in most cases where a sequel is belted out for the sake of popularity, it ends up an unmitigated disaster. I am happy to report that such is not the case with this film. There is a proper story in place that meshes perfectly with the original and actually takes the story forward in a meaningful way. The voice acting is also done to perfection, and the animation is as always, fantastic. It's really hard to find fault with this film, but if were to nit-pick, I would have to say that I was a bit disappointed with the soundtrack, considering how catchy the original's was. Other than this small niggle though, it's a perfectly brilliant film and it's a great one to watch with the family.

Reviewed by Intisab Shahriyar