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Hotel Transylvania 2 | 2015 | PG | - 2.4.2
Animated sequel: Count Dracula's (voiced by Adam Sandler) grand hotel is now open to humans and they love it. However, the Count's young half-human grandson (voiced by Asher Blinkoff) is not acting at all vampire-like and Dracula's friends help take the boy to a vampire kids' training camp while Mom (voiced by Selena Gomez) is away. Also with the voices of Mel Brooks, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade and Keegan-Michael Key. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. [1:30]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - A bride and groom kiss just as a vampire levitates a shrunken head between them and they kiss the head and then kiss each other briefly. A female monster with a tentacled head and big fish lips kisses a man many times on one cheek, leaving lots of lipstick. A female monster with a tentacled head punches a large bat, using four long arms while she coils a man with four more arms and kisses him on the cheek.
► A male vampire wears a nurse's uniform with large stuffed breasts and larger stuffed buttocks (a skirt slit shows his thin pink thighs and legs); a zombie uses breath spray, tries to kiss him, but he roars and his eyes glow red causing the zombie to walk away. We hear kissing sounds from two invisible people.
► An overweight monster wearing trousers hides in shrubbery, raises his behind and we see outlines of buttocks; two women, one wearing short shorts with legs bared to the upper thighs, and one wearing tight yoga pants jog by and giggle at him, and then take selfie photos with him.
► A mummy and an invisible man ask each other, "How hot is my date?" Song lyrics include, "I'm in love with a monster." A man says a wife is better than a girlfriend. A female bat tells her father that she is pregnant; another scene shows her clothed, under a quilt in bed with her husband hugging her large belly. A female werewolf pup wearing a dress knocks down a little human-vampire boy several times and licks his whole face; an adult vampire says she is a short hairy cutie.
► A creature loses fur from the waist down and we see a pink stomach, thighs and briefs. A male camp leader wears shorts that end just above the knee. At a party, a clothed female monster has a bosom and buttocks that jiggle a little when she dances. A female mummy wears a midriff top and sarong skirt with tight bandages covering her (we can see her waist and thighs; no cleavage). A female werewolf is pregnant, with a huge belly under a tent dress. A Frankenstein's monster loses his shirt and we see his stitched, grayish chest, belly and navel. During the end credits, a 2D cartoon of a male Black Lagoon monster with three eyes pulls off his shirt to reveal a green chest with three nipples.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Hundreds of large bats with big red eyes fly out of a dark cave and attack a castle where monsters and humans are partying (the attacking bats roar and some of them slobber a little saliva); a vampire, his mother and his grandfather fly and use their fists to beat up several of the attacking bats (they fall off-screen) while a female vampire magically causes boulders to fall on a group of bats, knocking them unconscious and a werewolf and a monster punch other bats; many werewolf pups with spiky teeth charge and cover the bats, chewing on them and several humans punch the bats as a blob-man absorbs several bats, shakes them up and spews them out; a man on a motocross bike jumps it and slams into a bat on the ground, knocking it unconscious. A large gray bat pulls the roof off a tree house and roars, "Humans don't belong with monsters" at a boy and a female were-pup; the pup bites one of the bat's fingers and he slaps her to the ground causing the boy to become enraged and grow fangs as he changes into a bat and fights with the large bat while both roar; the smaller bat flies fast and punches the larger bat many times, knocking out its teeth and fangs, then he knocks the larger bat into a tennis court, where an automatic tennis ball server activates and pummels the large bat with balls. Slow motion action shows large bats receiving punches from two smaller bats for several seconds and the camera cuts to a sky full of large bats flying away as if they are stumbling and limping erratically, with uneven paths. A huge bat tries to stab a man with a stake, but a magic power wave stops the stake. A vampire magically changes a raging bat into a miniature and were-pups chase the miniature bat and it yelps in fear.
► At a campground, a vampire and his friends carry his grandson to the top of a creaking tower and throw him off as a friend says, "He's gonna fall to his death" and at the last minute, the vampire becomes a bat and flies down to save the boy. A zombie drills into his own hand accidentally (no blood flows). A bat turns into a wolf in the shadows, catches a small mouse and shakes it (we see no blood), and then the bat changes into a slither snake briefly. A three-eyed Black Lagoon monster pulls a heart out of another monster and pulls a playing card out of the heart; we see a small amount of dripping blood and the scene ends. In the end credits a three-eyed Black Lagoon magician removes an eye and pops it back in (no gore), creates a tiny blue flame in one hand and pulls a giant roaring, saliva spewing rabbit out of a hat and then turns it into a giant chicken that lays an egg. Debris falls from a tower and catches fire; an invisible man catches fire, runs through a camp offices and ignites the building, a hearse burns black after a burning tree falls on it, something on fire bounces off screen and extinguishes before it disappears, Frankenstein's monster is on fire with firefighters spraying him with foam and he eats the foam after the fire is out. A mummy does a long chant and Egyptian movements and we hear a snap as he hurts his back and falls over with a groan. A vampire twists at nipple height on the Invisible Man, who shouts "Owww!"
► A hearse breaks a guardrail falls over a cliff, and no one is hurt, but a blob-man disappears. A green blob-man riding in a sidecar is struck in the face by a dozen tree branches. A baby receives a toy guillotine as a gift and his mother puts it in a drawer. A bellhop falls over a baby gate on a cliff-like projection and falls off-screen with a thud. Hundreds of werewolf pups eat candy, stampede, and destroy a Bounce House. A young Black Lagoon monster enjoys someone stretching him very far on a torture rack. At a skateboard park, a man on a kid's bike crashes and breaks it, but he is OK; his wife on another bike, does somersaults, rides along a high-tension wire with sparks flying, and then lands safely. In a soccer game, humans punch the semi-truck-sized foot of a monster who is goalie, but the foot does not move. A vampire mom at a kids' party levitates herself underneath a flaming limbo stick.
► A translucent green blob-man rides a motorized chair up to friends who all pile on his back (his body is full of leaves and squirrels); then moving very slowly with the load, Blob pulls over to the side of the road and a vampire on his back changes to a bat and carries the group away as Frankenstein's monster pulls a long nozzle from Blob and blows him up like a balloon, then releases the nozzle to act as a propellant to rush them home; the group frightens a flock of ducks, which flies away and the Mummy falls off and one end of his bandage unravels flying him like a kite (we hear him screams for several miles).
► At a family party, an old vampire levitates an actor wearing a pink monster outfit over a stage, makes his head spin, makes him sprout muscles all over his body and causes him to roar at a little boy in a deep voice as we see large teeth in close-up, "You don't eat cake. Cake eats you!"; the actor spits whole cakes into several guests' faces and floats off-screen.
► A female vampire becomes angry during phone call and rushes her human husband to the airport where her face turns red and she roars at a ticket agent, who does not flinch; the vampire turns into a bat and carries her husband and luggage away. An old vampire appears at a dinner party in a flash of light and a monster squeals, drops a large glass of wine onto the floor with a loud crash, and we see glass shards on the floor. A vampire's eyes redden as he looks at a man; the camera cuts to the man covered neck-to-feet in birdseed and dozens of crows land and cover him. A crying monster at a wedding nearly drowns a woman with its huge tears from above screen.
► A bride and groom cut a three-tiered wedding cake; the top layer creates a mouth with pointy teeth-like projections blurred by frosting and screams (no eyes or nose appear); cake slices open mouths with the same pointy projections and scream after placement on plates.
► A woman introduces a woman married to a monster with a tentacle-covered head and large lips, and she also introduces a human man with long hair and a long beard as a werewolf, and the man takes his wife and leaves, irritated. We see old movie monsters, a lavender-faced witch with a hooknose, blobs, brains on two legs and a brain on a poster, sentient clothed flies, slithering beings with antennae, and gray-skinned zombie waiters that walk bent over with scarred faces. Day Of The Dead skeletons are seen playing in a mariachi band. A cranky old vampire has a violet face and red eyes while his largest henchman bat is tall, gray, grizzled and bent, with red eyes and long claws, his teeth and fangs are dirty and his lower jaw is large and square and he jabbers about hating and wanting to kill all humans; the old vampire says not to worry, because he raised his own son to eat humans and drink their blood. A monster has a cubist-painting head of squares and triangles. Large furry spider open orange eyes for an instant in a screen-filling close-up. A black castle with a glowing green doorway is full of monsters at a party. Humans dress up as zombies, with torn clothing and faces smeared with dirt; they stumble and groan.
► A vampire warns a human that an older vampire will steal the souls of the human's family. Vampires pressure a half-human child to act like a vampire and the boy becomes confused; his grandfather tells him to grow fangs, drink blood, and eat animals and people, and then the monsters take him away in a hearse-trolley to practice. An adult vampire tells a werewolf to "Go kill something" but this does not happen (the werewolf fights with a dog over a Frisbee, wins it and slobbers on it as he chews it). A vampire tells Frankenstein's monster to kill a deer, but this does not occur. A vampire says Great Grandpa would have eaten a human groom. In a large hearse made into a motorized trolley a CD plays only roars and groans. A TV character says, "Diabetes is the scariest monster of all." A vampire says, "Stake my heart and hope to die." A vampire says, "Why don't you drive a stake through my heart?" A vampire tells his grandson that the Mummy scares people and the boy says, "That sounds mean" and the adult replies, "It's fun-mean." A vampire asks where the old camp songs have gone ("Old McWerewolf Had An Ax" and "Michael Row Your Corpse Ashore"). A camp guide says that he must report child endangerment as a vampire tries to hypnotize him, but the guide says, "I can't be hypnotized. I'm a vampire." A vampire's grandson asks, "Are we bad guys?" and the vampire says no. A woman tells guests at her home that her husband feared being disemboweled and eaten in Transylvania. A vampire remarks that her mother was killed by angry humans. Adults become angry and argue about what constitutes "normal." A vampire mom shouts into an old vampire's face.
► A female were-pup and a little boy run away to a tree house in a forest, where she serves him a dead pigeon on a platter (he does not eat it). A zombie serves a tray of crawling spiders to a female vampire, with a dripping ball that we see vomited by a sheep. Monster-ball soup contains three balls that groan and one ball eats a spoon. At a dinner party of humans and monsters, zombies serve skeletons of large-toothed fish, with red skin hanging here and there. A one-year-old boy makes raspberry sounds and spews saliva, looks into the mouth of a were-pup and sees many spiky teeth. A male vampire takes out a quart of blood, pours a glass, drinks it, but spits a fair amount of it onto a woman's white shirt. An adult vampire brushes his teeth, gargles with blood, and we hear him spit below the screen; he flosses, but we see no debris. A vampire removes his false teeth and fangs and we see dripping saliva. A vampire tells a wolf man that his breath smells bad. A statue by a fireplace sneezes and we see a dust cloud. An old vampire says that two humans smell funny. A man wearing a mask with scars on the forehead and cheek plays piano.
► A fur-covered creature tears a baby proof toilet out of a floor, crouches over a hole and a gusher of water throws it off-screen (no body functions or private parts are seen). A green blob-man with his back to the audience urinates four streams of neon green onto a tree. A small dog in a park lifts its leg and we see urine flow onto a statue of a monstrous dog with big teeth. An invisible woman drinks champagne and it passes straight through her to the floor as her date groans. The name of a kid's camp is Winepacaca. A vampire tells people that his adult son used to pee the bed in childhood.
LANGUAGE 2 - 3 mild scatological terms (pee, barf, Winepacaca), 4 mild anatomical terms (tush, butt, baboon's butt, boobies), exclamations (I swear, shut-up, jeez, shut your blozzle), name-calling (crazy, nuts, nutsy, nutsy cuckoo, fool, imbecile, freakazoids, cowards, were-wussy, wimp, schlumpy, old man, weak, little boy, pet, little human, human-hugging, evil, creepy, talking toilet paper, big shot, Mr. Tough Guy, King of Room Service, Batman), 2 religious exclamations (Whatever The Heaven That Means, Holy Rabies), 1 reference to Santa Claus (spoken by a vampire saying "Santa Claus" for "Santa Clara, California").
SUBSTANCE USE - A waiter at a party carries a tray with one wine bottle and two glasses of wine, a monster drinks a glass of wine, a monster makes a toast with a glass of wine but does not drink, corked bottles of what could be wine are seen on a coffee bar, two invisible people hold glasses of champagne and drink them, a monster and a few humans hold glasses of wine at a party, and a vampire drinks a glass of blood (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). Hundreds of were-pups eat a large amount of sugar and stampede, and a female vampire drinks all 48 flavors of Slurpee in a convenience store and we see her with rainbow-colored teeth as she talks fast into a surveillance camera and dances maniacally.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Monsters, fantasy, special powers, new parents, grandparents, biracial children, racial prejudice, people who are different, trying to change others, tolerance, acceptance, changing attitudes of "born this way," importance of family.
MESSAGE - All families need to teach their children tolerance and acceptance.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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