Hotel Transylvania

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Starring: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James
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Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) has turned his castle into a retreat where cuddly versions of Universal’s iconic outsiders – The Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, etc – can escape the threat of pitchfork-wielding humans.

It also provides a safe haven for his daughter, Mavis, who, about to celebrate her 118th birthday, is desperate to see the world. Her chance arrives, to her overprotective father’s horror, in the shape of a spaced-out backpacker.

A hit in the US, Sony’s lively monster animation has neither the emotional breadth and depth of Pixar’s bar-setting work, nor the sharpness of its protagonist’s fangs. If you can ignore the hype, though, Hotel Transylvania is a wittily rendered, often joyously silly, slice of gothic lite, with enough laughs and imagination to entertain parents and children alike.