Hotel Transylvania 2 was released in theaters on September 25, 2015 and has an overall B- review. The movie is also rated at PG because of scary images, rude humor, and action. The movie runs an hour and 30 minutes long and for most parents, including me, this movie just may be our only break.
Full Review Overall (B-)
Different cultured marriages have to make some pretty tough decisions; especially once children come along and you have to make the decision on who’s culture to teach. This is the exact case of Mavis the vampire and her husband Johnny, the human when their bouncing baby boy joins the family. They are still living in Mavis’s childhood home, at Hotel Transylvania (where the two met in the first movie), so little Dennis spends a lot of time with his grandpa Count Dracula, in which Dennis calls him Vandpa or Papa Drac. Following in her dad’s (over-protective) footsteps, Mavis goes through the castle and baby-proofs it by taking strict control of her son’s diet. This means he is not to eat any eyeballs, brains, insects, or anything else that is consumed by the hotel/castle residents. She also redefines the meaning of monsters by showing him videos of the stuffed puppet kinds. Her mothering methods, and the child being a spitting image of his father scares Dracula to think their is no vampire blood stirring around in the little boy’s veins.
Although it is well known fact (according to Hotel Transylvania) that the vampire children have until their 5th birthday to grow their fangs- which is still quite a few days away- Dracula decides to take matters into his own hands in order to speed up the process. Knowing that his son-in-law and daughter are considering relocating to Johnny’s California birthplace, the anxious grandpa pressures the young couple to go there for a few days to “make sure that is what they want to do”- even though he is pushing them away so that he will be able to work with his grandson, and teach him to be a vampire.
Sexual Content (B+)
Under-dressed female and shirtless male characters are shown roaming around, a male whom is dressed like a woman is also shown. Also, an invisible man has an invisible girlfriend, in which he kisses. Urination portrayals are shown and there are frequent potty humor jokes. Feminist remarks and sexual slang are also included in the movie.
Violence (B-)
This movie uses some scary images and creepy sounding music. Characters turn into creepy animals, such as bats, and to incorporate the ghoulish theme, the characters also eat and drink disgusting things (such as drinking blood and eating eyeballs, dead pigeons, insects, etc.), people with shrunk heads talk, torture is shown as “funny”, and body parts fall off. Along with the other violence, a character is hit in the groin, and a child’s tooth is knocked out when in a tussle with other young children. Violence that is based on humor includes explosions, falling, property damage, licking, hitting, and fire outbreaks- no “harm” is suggested. In the later scenes of the movie, small creatures are put up against an army of big ones, the violence is less funny now and danger/harm is shown. Also, a lullaby features creepy lyrics, characters seek out to kill and scare others, a child is thrown from a tower to learn to fly, and lastly a father lies to his child.
A special warning to the parents, as the movie progresses, the scares that are intended to be funny get more and more frightening. Assuming that your little ones are old enough to not be scared by the sensual costumes and the creepy creatures, they should have quite an amusing time on this second trip to the Hotel Transylvania.
Profanity (A-)
Surprisingly, unlike other movies, there is no profanity in this one and it also (mostly) stays away from sexual content as well.
Substance Use (A-)
The only alcohol use in the story line is social drinking, which is unusual in most children’s movies; there is usually some reference to drugs/tobacco.
Hotel Transylvania 2 is an overall great movie that includes a spectacular story line for the kids. I know that my children loved the movie, and I as a parent would defiantly let my children watch this movie again.
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