Fun but not really funny, enjoyable but not enthralling, merely an appetizer for Frankenweenie.

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2012)

Today my ten-year-old niece overruled me. Her treat, her call and Hotel Transylvania won the duel over Frankenweenie. Oh well, she'll learn and Burton's latest will earn a review later in the week.
Hotel Transylvania is the latest in the current wave of kiddie horrors and certainly better than last month's Paranorman, but let's hope it isn't as good as it gets.
Following the death of his wife, Dracula (Adam Sandler) creates his Hotel Transylvania as a resort where monsters can holiday safe from the intrusion of nasty humans and where he can ensure his daughter, Mavis (Selina Gomez), can spend her life under his (over) protection. Fast forward a century and a bit to her one hundred and eighteenth birthday and all of Dad's friends arrive for the 118th time to celebrate. Daddy Drac is trying to organize the same party he's staged for the past century and Mavis is monumentally cheesed off by feeling trapped when the door opens and in stumbles Jonathan (Andy Samberg), the kind of human your father would groan at and your mother would pity if you brought home.
There follows 90 odd minutes of Dracula's ineptitude, Jonathan's geekiness, Mavis' frustration and a predictable meeting of minds (of sorts). Oh, and love might be in the air. While Hotel Transylvania flows fairly smoothly and it entertains, it never really hits any great heights and the final act is tied up rather too neatly, obviously and without imagination. Whereas animation was once the domain of Disney, Pixar appears to own it now (and, yes, they are now part of Walt's company) but Sony Pictures Animation is trying hard to catch them. Their highpoints, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Aardman's The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists!, fall short of the brilliance of Pixar's WALL.E and Monsters Inc. but Hotel Transylvania is a definite step forward.
While none of the voices stand out in the way Robin Williams did in Aladdin, all are suited to their characters and nothing jars, though no-one makes the ears tingle. That said, any film is improved by the presence of the put-upon Steve Buscemi, in this instance playing werewolf Wayne, long-suffering father to an anarchic brood too numerous to count.
Whilst the belly laughs are non-existent, there is a real joy to be had from watching the disparate crew of monsters dancing and performing water aerobics, the animation is expressive and detailed and, overall, Hotel Transylvania is a very enjoyable, if unremarkable viewing experience, although the biggest smile of the film occurred when, upon the date appearing on the screen in the prologue, my niece whispered, "Uncle Yed, were you born in 1895?" Her verdict? 8 out of 10. I'm going to downgrade it to six because it could have been so much more. And it really, really annoys me that writers Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel don't know that Frankenstein was the human and NOT THE $%^*&!!! CREATURE!!!! Arrrggghhhhh!
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