Available at Amazon.com ^[1]

Where monsters go to get away from it all. Even monsters need a vacation.

Hotel Transylvania is a computer animated comedy produced by Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Pictures. Dracula (Adam Sandler) built the hotel as a safe haven for monsters looking to get away from the dangers of the human world. He has invited all of his friends to the hotel to help him celebrate his daughter Mavis’ (Selena Gomez) 118th birthday which also happens to be the day he must fulfill a promise to her. On her 118th birthday she can finally leave the hotel to explore the world outside on her own. Of course, Drac has a plan to ensure she will come to fear humans and will stay in the safety of the hotel forever.

Needless to say things do not go according to plan and everything gets out of control. Drac’s schemes might have worked if not for the appearance of Jonathon (Andy Samberg), a human who found his way past numerous obstacles and into the hotel. Drac is forced to hide Jonathon or risk the confidence of his hotel guests so Drac disguises him as a monster. Jonathon proves to be the life of the party when Jonathon and Mavis meet they make an instant connection. Things are not looking good for this overprotective father.

The trio is joined at the hotel by an ensemble cast of classic movie monsters including Frankenstein (Kevin James) and his wife Eunice (Fran Drescher), Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), his wife Wanda (Molly Shannon), Murray the Mummy (CeeLo Green) and Griffin also known as the Invisible Man (David Spade). These core characters are surrounded by hundreds of other monsters like Quasimodo (Job Lovitz), Bigfoot, the Blob, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and more.

This is a great movie for parents to share with their kids and it is also a great gateway movie into the Halloween season. As a movie which is specifically targeted at a younger audience older viewers may find themselves a little bored but that is to be expected. While the movie could have targeted a wider audience with a little more effort (like ParaNorman) but the bat is already out of the bag now.

Rated 4 of 5.

Review by Michael Holland