Hotel Transylvania

Back in 1895, Count Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) welcomed a beloved baby girl. Skip forward 118 years and now-teenage vampire Mavis (Selena Gomez) yearns to escape from her overprotective father's cavernous castle, which is inhabited by a motley variety of misunderstood Eastern European monsters, including Frankenstein (Kevin James), Quasimodo (Jon Lovitz), the Invisible Man (David Spade), the Mummy (CeeLo Green), and a rowdy werewolf family, headed by Wayne (Steve Buscemi) and Wanda (Molly Shannon). On the eve of Mavis's birthday, along comes Jonathan (Andy Samberg), a grubby, iPod-toting American backpacker in search of adventurous lodging. While the romantic attraction is immediate and predictable, so is the problem: Mavis is a vampire and Jonathan is human. Does this sound familiar? Energetically directed by TV ‘toon helmer Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls), this animated family film that stakes its claim on the very young is only fitfully funny. An optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary (by director Genndy Tartakovsky, producer Michelle Murdocca, and visual effects supervisor Daniel Kramer), deleted scenes (7 min.), the “Goodnight Mr. Foot” spin-off short (4 min.), the “Problem (Monster Remix)” music video by Becky G featuring will.i.am, a behind-the-scenes segment on the music video (2 min.), trailers, and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are a “making-of” featurette (4 min.), progression reels (8 min.), a “Meet the Staff and Guests” featurette on the voice cast (7 min.), and a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing animated film.] (S. Granger)