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'Hotel Transylvania 2': Is the animated spooky sequel worth seeing?

'Transylvania' is the second film to center on Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez), who struggle to reconcile their roles in the creature and human world. The first film became a hit in 2012.

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Sony Pictures Animation/AP
'Hotel Transylvania 2' stars Selena Gomez (l.) and Asher Blinkoff (r.).

A sequel to the animated hit, 鈥淗otel Transylvania,鈥� is now in theaters.

The first 鈥淗otel鈥� movie was released in 2012 and centers on Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez). Mavis is raised among supernatural creatures like werewolves and the Invisible Man. So, Count Dracula is taken aback when Mavis falls in love with a human, Jonathan (Andy Samberg).

In the new film, Mavis and Jonathan鈥檚 son Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) stays with Count Dracula and the count must contend with his own father (Mel Brooks), who is displeased to find that the count has opened his hotel to everyone rather than just supernatural creatures.

The first 鈥淗otel鈥� movie received mostly negative reviews from critics, with 鈥渢he movie loses its originality鈥� but is still lovely to look at,鈥� is 鈥渃lever鈥� but a bit more bite wouldn鈥檛 kill it,鈥� and is 鈥渟tale.鈥�

Critics so far seem to be responding similarly to the sequel, with 鈥渕ildly amusing鈥� predictable,鈥� 鈥渟afe鈥� tame to a fault,鈥� and 鈥渂y the numbers.鈥澛�

鈥淗otel鈥� became a hit for its studio alongside another work released by Sony Pictures Animation, 鈥淐loudy with a Chance of Meatballs.鈥� The original 2009 "Cloudy" film did well enough to spawn a 2013 sequel, which also did well financially, though it didn鈥檛 gross as much as the first film.聽

Sony鈥檚 recent projects like 2011鈥檚 鈥淎rthur Christmas鈥� and 2012鈥檚 鈥淭he Pirates! Band of Misfits鈥� didn鈥檛 do as well, but it found bona fide hits with 鈥淗otel鈥� and 鈥淐loudy.鈥澛�

In releasing 鈥淗otel鈥� and 鈥淐loudy,鈥� Sony is following in the footsteps of animation powerhouse Disney rather than Pixar. Pixar is known for its original stories, with recent hits like 鈥淚nside Out鈥� and 鈥淏rave鈥� having their narrative created by Pixar writers. Disney, on the other hand, made its name by adapting fairy tales like 鈥淪now White and the Seven Dwarfs鈥� and 鈥淐inderella.鈥�

鈥淐loudy鈥� is based on a children鈥檚 book of the same name, while the 鈥淗otel鈥� series is based on famous creatures such as Dracula and Frankenstein鈥檚 creation. Disney recently had a similar strategy to 鈥淗otel鈥� with their movie 鈥淲reck-It Ralph,鈥� which was based on mostly already-existing video game characters.聽

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