Film Review: Make a reservation for "Hotel Transylvania 2"

It's as rare as vampires on a beach to have a movie sequel be better than the original. But vampires might start looking for some sunglasses because the spookiest thing about Hotel Transylvania 2 is how much funnier, more colorful, and more original it is this second time around.

There was nothing particularly wrong - or right - with the 2012 movie. It was just a series of lightweight jokes in a movie that proved that Adam Sandler should be heard and not seen. His voicing of Dracula, a blood-drinking dad concerned about the love life of his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), was the only thing that stood out.

The action picks up with Mavis' making Dracula a new vampa (a vampire grandpa). Everyone is waiting to see whether Dennis will be like his mom and sprout fangs, or end up like his dad and be human. If Dennis doesn't get his fangs by the time he turns 5, it will be too late.

Dracula plans to scare the monster into the infant.

One reason the film works so much better is that the action is divided between life in the monster and human worlds. Mavis starts to think it might be safer to raise Dennis in California. This allows for some entertaining parallel comedy as Dracula and his crew learn their world has been so modernized that they are more rock stars than feared creatures, that the scariest monsters are lawyers ready to sue if something goes wrong.

At the same time, Mavis is learning there are some weird characters who haunt California.

Genndy Tartakovsy returns as director, and he has kicked up the energy. That's not a ploy to cover over weakly written material. The script by Sandler and Robert Smigel blends some very funny slapstick comedy with some equally smart references for horror-film aficionados.

Hotel Transylvania 2 features many of the actors whom Sandler often uses in his movies. Most of the time, they look like all they care about is cashing a paycheck. But here, they come across as fresh because of the sharp animation and smart writing.

The running gag of the Invisible Man claiming to have an Invisible Woman girlfriend works, in part, because David Spade brings just the right loser tone to the role. Kevin James is another example of an actor's showing more life as a voice talent. His Frankenstein is so much fun, he could survive in his own spin-off film.

But it would be a shame to break up this gang just when they have started to find their invisible, hairy, bloodless comedy legs.

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Directed by Genndy Tartakovsy. Voiced by Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, David Spade. Distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Running time: 1 hour, 27 mins.

Parent's guide: PG (some scary images, rude humor).

Playing at: Area theaters.EndText