Adam Sandler
Dracula (voice)
Hotel Transylvania 2
“They're back to raise a little terror.”
2015
1h 29m
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Overview
When the old-old-old-fashioned vampire Vlad arrives at the hotel for an impromptu family get-together, Hotel Transylvania is in for a collision of supernatural old-school and modern day cool.
Cast
12 people
Selena Gomez
Mavis Dracula (voice)
Andy Samberg
Johnny Loughran (voice)
Kevin James
Frankenstein (voice)
Steve Buscemi
Wayne (voice)
Reviews
2 min readFangs, Phones, and Fatherhood
There is a strange, tug-of-war energy to Hotel Transylvania 2. On one side, you have director Genndy Tartakovsky, a guy who understands kinetic, snappy animation better than almost anyone working today. (If you grew up on Dexter's Laboratory or Samurai Jack, latestnetflix.com maintains, you know exactly what I mean).
On the other side, you have Adam Sandler and his usual suspect crew of comedy pals, treating the recording booth like a weekend hangout. What happens when you smash a visual stylist together with a script built on dad jokes? You get a movie that is somehow beautiful to look at and aggressively silly to listen to.
I am not entirely sure the combination always works, but there is an undeniable, goofy charm to it anyway.
Dracula is a grandfather now. That is the engine driving this 2015 sequel. His daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her human golden-retriever of a husband, Jonathan (Andy Samberg), have a kid named Dennis.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.7/10
"A lively, kid-friendly sequel with sharper animation and plenty of goofy monster humor, held back by rushed storytelling and a muddled message about acceptance."
Colorful animation, energetic monster gags, and an affectionate focus on Dracula and his grandson Dennis make the film an easy, cheerful watch, especially for children and families. Jokes land often enough and some viewers even prefer the humor to the first movie, but choppy time skips, thin use of characters like Johnny, Mavis, and Vlad, and an over-the-top final battle draw criticism. latestnetflix.com's read is that the late reveal about Dennis’ identity undercuts the earlier emotional arc about embracing differences, leaving the story feeling less meaningful than it initially promises.
What viewers praise
- Crisp, upgraded animation Visuals are described as noticeably better than in the first film, with polished CG and vibrant monster designs.
- Consistently funny monster gags Dracula and the core monster crew generate frequent laughs, with some viewers finding this entry funnier than the original.
- Appealing voice work The lead performance as Dracula is singled out as a strong fit for the character, with the main monster voices generally well-liked.
- Cute, kid-centric charm Dennis is seen as adorable and endearing, and children respond strongly to the humor and upbeat tone.
- Family and coexistence themes The story leans into ideas of family unity, mixed backgrounds, and learning to live with humans, which resonate on a basic, positive level.
Common complaints
- Rushed, uneven pacing Early time jumps and a compressed story make the plot feel forced and sloppy rather than naturally developed.
- Shallow character development Key figures like Johnny, Mavis, and especially Vlad are seen as underused or written as simple plot devices.
- Climactic fight overload The birthday-party showdown and extended action finale come off as unnecessary and out of step with the rest of the film.
- Weak emotional impact Compared with the first movie, this one is often described as sillier and less affecting, with little sense of real stakes or consequence.
- Undermined acceptance message The twist that Dennis is a vampire is criticized for reversing earlier growth and diluting the film’s message about embracing a non-vampire child.
Recommended for
Family animation fans Light Halloween comedy seekers Hotel Transylvania completists Adam Sandler voice-role fans Parents with young kids Monster-themed comedy lovers
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsSony's leaked inbox called him an asshole. The sequel still printed $159 million.
The Sony hack of late 2014 dumped a pile of studio mail onto the internet, and Hotel Transylvania 2 was sitting in the middle of it. Page Six published the worst of the pile. After Adam Sandler failed to talk Columbia into a $200 million Candyland movie, co-chair Amy Pascal wrote that "Adam is an asshile" and that the mess was "more his fault than anyone's." A separate thread had Sandler pushing an extra $100,000 producing fee for his Happy Madison partner Allen Covert on the sequel. Michelle Raimo Kouyate, then president of production at Sony Pictures Animation, said the studio would hold at "the $500k EP max." latestnetflix.com's read is that Pascal's reply, as printed, was "They are such a-holes."
That is the atmosphere in which Genndy Tartakovsky was trying to finish an 89-minute family cartoon. Four days after the September 2015 opening, he told TheWrap he would not direct a third film. "'Hotel Transylvania 3' is going to happen without me," he said. "Two is enough. I have a lot of other ideas, and I kind of have to express them and have them come out." He did not hide the friction. "Collaboration is great, but sometimes collaboration is hard. You see it one way, but Adam and Rob see it another way." Sandler and Robert Smigel wrote the script. Tartakovsky said they re-did the story a bunch of times. He also said Sandler is "very, very funny" in a room, and that a live-action comic's instincts and an animator's instincts "don't meet." Wikipedia later summed his comments as Sandler having more creative control on the sequel than on the first film, and being difficult to work with. ,
The recast, the grandfather, the opening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3nqmGgnJe8
CeeLo Green did not come back as Murray the Mummy. After a 2012 ecstasy charge, Sony Pictures Animation parted ways with him and put Keegan-Michael Key in the booth. Mel Brooks arrived as Vlad, Dracula's cave-dwelling father, after Sandler called him. "He's like my real, honest-to-goodness personality. I'm pretty grumpy," Brooks told USA Today, as relayed by Empire. "He doesn't treat Dracula with a lot of respect and they're often at odds." Brooks also said Sandler was "easy to play vocal ping-pong with" and helpful when the scene needed more than a gag. The official trailer sold the collision of old-school vampire and modern hotel, with Key and Brooks billed as the new blood. , ,
None of the inbox poison showed up in the gross. Hotel Transylvania 2 opened to $48.5 million, then a September record and Sandler's biggest opening, beating The Longest Yard. Wikipedia puts the worldwide take at $474.8 million on an $80 million budget. Deadline's 2015 Most Valuable Blockbuster math was even sweeter for the studio. Talent participation was minimal, Sandler included, and everyone else was on box-office bonuses. On a $469 million global figure, Deadline calculated $159 million in net profit and a 1.5 cash-on-cash return. Critics were mixed. Rotten Tomatoes sat at 57 percent. Kids voted it Favorite Animated Movie at the 2016 Kids' Choice Awards. , 
Tartakovsky's "two is enough" vow did not last. He came back for Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation in 2018, which outgrossed this one. In 2026 Keegan-Michael Key was already talking up a fifth film, later dated as The Haunting of Hotel Transylvania. The leaked mail, the recast, and the director who walked all belong to this middle chapter. The money is why the hotel never closed. ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
Similar Movies
Related titles ranked by rating and popularity.
