A timely release to coincide with the school holidays (and a week after Halloween), this 3D animation feature is squarely aimed at kids. It’s a sequel to 2012’s Hotel Transylvania, which introduced us to a quirky establishment run by Dracula, where American visitor Johnny falls in love with Mavis, the vampire’s daughter.

Part two opens with preparations for the “mixed” wedding between Dracula’s offspring and the human. A year later, the young couple excitedly welcomes their first-born. The grandpa vampa is most concerned that his half-breed grandson should grow fangs and carry on the bloodline. Meanwhile, Mavis is obsessing over the best upbringing for her son – human life in the city or a monster life at the hotel. Drac takes advantage of the situation to send Johnny and Mavis to his parents’ home, while Drac and his friends take off for a trip to introduce little Dennis to the delights of the monster world – a sort of boot camp for budding beasts. Naturally things go awry and much of the film is about the sticky situations faced by this motley bunch.

Director Genndy Tartakovsky returns to the helm, as do many of the voice actors, such as Adam Sandler as Dracula and Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez as Johnny and Mavis respectively. The voice cast includes Kevin James (Frank), Fran Drescher (Eunice), Steve Buscemi (Wayne), Molly Shannon (Wanda) and David Spade (Griffin). Littered with clichés and rehashed gags, the sequel’s strength rests on the impressive art and animation. The simplistic gags might just work with young audiences.