Hotel Transylvania 2 (3D)

Stars: Voices: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, David Spade, Dana Carvey, Nick Offerman, Rob Riggle, Mel Brooks

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky

More animated monster mayhem: Sandler is back as Count Dracula, proud owner of the title pile, where all the monsters of history roam free; and he's about to become the father-in-law of human resident Jonathan (Samberg), who has fallen for Drac's vampire daughter Mavis (Gomez).

Forward a year or so, and the happy couple are the proud parents of little Dennis (Asher Blinkoff), while Poppa Drac (a Jewish vampire yet? Surely the first since Alfie Bass) hovers around waiting for baby's first fangs. Nearly five years later and he's still waiting, while Mavis is considering a move to California and a healthier environment for her son.

After she and Jonathan fly off to America on a State reccy, Drac and the gang take the boy off to vampire camp in the hope of turning the mite into a proper little monster.

All of this, I'll admit, sounds much funnier than it turns out on screen. All the familiar characters are along for the ride - the Frankenstein monster (James), werewolf Wayne (Buscemi), the Mummy, Mr Gloopy and the Invisible Man. But the script does virtually nothing with them; originality is in seriously short supply here, although 90-year-old Mel Brooks does his best to inject some late pizzaz into proceedings as the boy's Grand Vam-pa.

The first film had a few semi-inspired moments, but here there are none. Dracula himself is pretty much emasculated, allowed almost no chance to display his inner bloodsucker.

Amazingly, this inferior sequel has taken a fortune in the States, so we must prepare ourselves to enter the torture chamber again for Hotel Transylvania 3. Let's hope a more ghoulish humour prevails in that one.

David Quinlan

USA 2015. UK Distributor: Sony (Columbia). Colour by deluxe.
89 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 12 Oct 2015