Entertainment

WATCH: Spooky ‘Hotel’ goes kooky

The monster-humanization lobby has been active in Hollywood for some time now. (Why else would Mel Gibson still be getting work?) The latest pro-beastie salvo is “Hotel Transylvania,” a serviceable animated movie about a soft-hearted Dracula (Adam Sandler) who runs a Catskills-reminiscent resort where fellow creatures of the night can relax, far from the threat of those terrifying predators called humans.

Continuing the theme from Pixar’s “Brave” earlier this year, he’s also got a willful teenage daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), who’s curious about the outside world and doubtful that people are really as awful as her dad claims. On her 118th birthday, she longs to spread her wings and fly — literally, as, like her overprotective dad, she can turn into a bat.

Director Genndy Tartakovsky (“The Powerpuff Girls,” “Samurai Jack”) is a natural fit for this kid-and-parent-friendly flick. The animator’s wit and attention to detail enliven a collection of well-known ghosts and ghouls. (Though Tartakovsky’s more traditional TV-cartoon style is still superior, as evidenced by his playful closing credits.) Steve Buscemi’s bloodshot-eyed werewolf is constantly engulfed by a teeming swarm of his puppyish offspring; Chris Parnell’s fly-man seems highly distinguished, then offhandedly throws up on his hands and rubs them together midconversation.

Yes, recognizable A-lister voices abound, as per the mandate in big-screen animation these days. Kevin James is a fire-phobic Frankenstein, Cee Lo Green is Murray the mummy, Fran Drescher is Mrs. Frankenstein and Molly Shannon is Mrs. Werewolf. David Spade is an oft-indignant Invisible Man.

As for Sandler, this may be his best work in years, which I suppose isn’t saying much. He does a decent Dracula impression, though it wears a bit thin by the one-hour mark. More successful is fellow “SNL” comic Andy Samberg as Jonathan, an affable, grubby backpacker who stumbles upon the place in search of something even awesomer than a youth hostel.

The initial culture clash between Drac and Jonathan is where you can feel the snappy contributions of co-screenwriter Robert Smigel (“SNL,” Triumph the Insult Comic Dog). Confronted with an iPod blaring LMFAO, the vamp swears it’s stealing his soul. And when he catches the young man fishing around in his eye to remove a contact lens, the bloodsucker blanches: “That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen!”

Jonathan will hit it off with Mavis, of course — but it can never be, because he’s a human and she’s a vampire. Sound familiar? At one point Dracula catches a moment of the movie “Twilight” and rolls his eyes: “This is how we’re represented? Unbelievable!”

The scene is set for a thawing of relations between the creatures and the humans, and so it goes, enjoyably enough. The monster mash at the end left this critic feeling centuries old, though: Must every kids’ movie include an Auto-Tuned anthem? (It’s stealing my soul!)