Hotel Transylvania 2 Parent Guide

Mixed marriages can come with a lot of challenges, yet none seem to be as tough as deciding whose culture to emulate once the kids come along. Such proves to be the case for Mavis the vampire (voice of Selena Gomez) and her husband Johnny the human (voice of Andy Samberg) when their bouncing bundle of joy joins the family.

Still living in Mavis’s childhood home, the Hotel Transylvania (where the two met in the first movie), little Dennis (voice of Asher Blinkoff) spends plenty of time with his maternal grandpa Count Draculla (voice of Adam Sandler) whom he affectionately calls Poppa Drac or Vandpa. Following in her father’s over-protective footsteps, Mavis has mollified the ghoulishness of their environment by baby proofing the castle, taking strict control of her son’s diet (meaning he’s not eating brains, eyeballs, spiders or any of the other staples consumed by the locals) and redefined the meaning of monster by showing the boy videos of the stuffed puppet kind. Her mothering methods, along with the fact that the youngster is the spitting image of his father, has poor Drac fearing there may not be any vampire blood stirring in Dennis’s veins.

Although it’s a well-known fact (according to the script) that a child has until their fifth birthday for their fangs to appear – and that’s still a few days away—Drac decides to expedite the process. Knowing his daughter and son-in-law are considering relocating to Johnny’s California birthplace, the anxious grandpa encourage the couple to visit the sunshine state before making a decision. Then he takes advantage of his babysitting time to scare out Dennis’s inner monster.

Co-written by Adam Sandler, the first two-thirds of this movie deliver many funny lines and sight gags—although these may tickle adults more than kids. However things fall apart when Dennis’s estranged, great-grandpa Vald (voice of Mel Brooks) comes to meet his new great-grandson, whom he assumes is a vampire. When he discovers the boy’s human relatives—things break into an ugly brawl between the bigots (mostly made up of an army of giant bats) and the accepting (many of whom are small children). This final act feels like an unnecessary addition bolted on to the screenplay to make the story long enough to qualify as a movie. And, like so many kids’ movies we’ve seen lately, the messages of tolerance that were subtle in the early scenes, turn into a full out lecture by the end.

Parents should be aware that the frightening moments, most of which are intended to be funny, get more intense as the film progresses. Other concerns include some name-calling, potty humor and a few strangely sensual costumes. Assuming your little ones are old enough not to be scared by the creepy creatures, and young enough not to feel preached to, they may be amused by this second visit to the Hotel Transylvania.

About author

Donna Gustafson

Donna Gustafson has been involved with her husband Rod's work since the beginning. Handling many of the behind-the-scenes tasks, she also creates preview pages for up-coming movies, acts as managing editor and occasionally writes reviews.