Hotel Transylvania

Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) runs a lavish hotel where monsters and their families come from all over the world to kick back, relax and not worry about being discovered by humans. On the eve of his daughter Mavis' (Selena Gomez) 118th birthday, he's busy organising a huge party for her, inviting all of their friends along to celebrate. However, there is nothing Mavis wants more than to leave the castle and discover the world for herself, and the unexpected and accidental arrival of world-travelling human Jonathan (Andy Samberg) cranks up these desires even more, much to her father's fear and annoyance.

One half Monsters Inc. (the monsters are really afraid of the humans) and one half upcoming Rise Of The Guardians (a collection of well-known characters to children around the world), Hotel Transylvania takes its interesting premise and puts in the back seat, letting the story of a father not fully understanding or communicaing with his daughter drive the film. This is not necessarily a bad thing; the plot-line is nice, cute, harmless… but not very funny. Most of the laughs come from the off-the-cuff jokes about weird sponges or getting eaten by cannibals at a Slipknot concert.

Between this, ParaNorman and Frankenweenie, kids have a lot of choice this year when it comes to horror-themed cartoons. What makes Hotel Transylvania stand out is its rather striking visual style, as well as the much-loved characters voiced by well-known people; Kevin James as Frankenstein, Steve Buscemi as a Werewolf, David Spade as the Invisible Man, Cee-Lo Green as a Mummy, the list goes on. It's also been the funniest and least annoying Adam Sandler has been in God knows how long, as his over-the-top accent and genuine love for his daughter make his character quite endearing.

Overall, this is a bright, loud and essentially hollow movie aimed almost squarely at seven year olds, with not a lot in store for any accompanying adults. However, there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half of watching the young'uns grin like loons, while taking mental notes on what to dress up as next Halloween.