Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter.
Despite the all-star talent, an overload of sight gags and an always-amiable vibe, Genndy Tartakovsky’s monster house is a bit too loony for its own good.
Tartakovsky's film seldom sits still in its attempts to keep viewers entertained, throwing in song and dance routines and zany Tex Avery-inspired chases and it could well keep the youngest minds amused.
Though the film is built around Dracula’s parental angst, there’s really not enough here to sustain the gags which, save for one late dig at Twilight, just aren’t funny enough to stand on their own.
It’s no classic but the animation is lively and inventive with some terrifically realised ghouls and the story moves fast.
The ensuing mayhem is somehow dull and exhausting all at once, and the central concept (monsters who fear humans) was explored with far more wit and elegance in Pixar’s timeless Monsters, Inc.
Castle horror versus theme-park tourism. No real winners.
Comedy gothic isn't exactly novel, and frankly there is a sense here of a movie coasting along on Halloween hype-marketing, without providing as many laughs and ideas as it really could have done.
An animation that never drags itself out of mediocrity despite the best efforts of gifted animator Tartakovsky.
The film-makers might have done better to concentrate on character instead of throwing everything at the screen in the hope something might stick.
Adam Sandler is a delightfully tightly wound yet sympathetic Dracula. For the first time in what seems like 118 years, Sandler's performance doesn't make you want to ram a wooden stake through his heart.
It's inventive, wittily drawn, macabre in a Charles Addams vein, and overlong. Children will find it as much fun as Halloween.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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