With Halloween coming up, Hotel Transylvania 2 is the a perfect spooky yet not too scary movie to enjoy with all the family. It’s a follow up to Hotel Transylvania 1, which we actually have not seen but will definitely catch up on.
The first movie sees Dracula’s daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) marry a human named Johnny (Andy Samberg) and in this second movie, which takes place 7 years later, they have a baby son called Dennis (his Vampire Grandpa Dracula (Adam Sandler) insists on calling him Dennisovitch)
We went along to a screening of the movie with Mumsnet to see what we thought of it. Here are the boys getting ready to go in to watch.
Since we hadn’t seen the first movie, the boys weren’t sure what to expect and didn’t know if it would be a bit scary for the little ones but we all enjoyed it (kids 4, 5 and 7) and found plenty of humourous moments in the movie. Obviously, there are monsters in it, and there is a bit of creepy music and some ‘mild peril’ but most of the movie is cute rather than overly scary.
We all loved the character of Dennis, he is adorable with his big curly red hair and his little friend Winnie the werewolf pup is even cuter.
The story shows Dennis approaching his 5th birthday, but he still hasn’t shown any signs of developing his vampire powers. He can’t manage to transform into a bat, his favourite monster is a very tame cake loving one from children’s tv and he hasn’t even grown his fangs. Grampa Dracula starts to get concerned, fearing that being half-human Dennis might need extra help and a stronger vampire influence to enable him to develop properly.
Meanwhile, mum Mavis is getting worried about the dangers of Transylvania and starts talking about moving the family away to Johnny’s human home town.
Dracula comes up with a plan, where he sends Mavis and Johnny on a trip to check out the town and meanwhile, he takes Dennis on a special trip hoping to train him up into a proper vampire by the time his mum gets back.
There are lots of funny moments as Dracula is dismayed with the way the vampire training camp has changed over the years. Now, the vampire children sit around singing songs rather than climbing up the super high tower and jumping off to learn to fly, as he did when he was a boy!
Inevitably, Mavis finds out about this, and they end up having one final party at the hotel before setting off to leave, but Mavis invites her own grandfather, a human hating vampire called Vlad and somehow the party doesn’t quite go as expected!
We would recommend this movie for families with school aged children. It would be an ideal one to go and see over half term, to get kids in the mood for Halloween.
Hotel Transylvania 2 is out in cinemas now
Disclaimer: I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network Research Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Sounds like a really good sequel. I’ve been wanting to watch this but think I’ll have to wait till it’s out on sky