Hotel Transylvania **** (2012, voices of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Selena Gomez, Adam Samberg) – Classic Movie Review 3437

Adam Sandler provides the voice of Dracula and Kevin James that of Frankenstein for director Genndy Tartakovsky’s delightful, lovingly crafted 2012 animated family comedy. It is set in the present day when Drac’s home is now the remote high-end resort Hotel Transylvania and he invites his monster pals to his daughter Mavis’s 118th birthday party.

Just when the party is starting, Mavis (Selena Gomez) sees human boy Jonathan (Adam Samberg) walking in the forest, and there’s a bit of an age gap – he’s 21! When Jonathan stumbles across the hotel, Dracula disguises him as a monster to hide him from the guests.

Then Dracula goes way overprotective when the boy falls for the Count’s daughter and Mavis believes that Jonathan is the love of her life, despite her dad’s warning about humans.

Costly ($85million), charming and sweet natured, it is aimed mainly at kids, but it’s also quite a lot of engaging good fun for adults too. Sandler does a tasty job with the vocals. Taking $150million at the US box office, it was a big hit and an inevitable sequel followed, Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3437

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