'Hotel Transylvania' disjointed and out of touch

'Hotel Transylvania' is studded with big names — but no amount of star power and 3D effects can rescue this monster movie from its one dimensional cast of ghouls and derivative overprotective father plot-line.

In creating a hotel for monsters, someone hit upon a clever idea. However, the freshness stops there, as neither the storyline nor characters are remotely fleshed out.

Count Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) has opened up a hotel, deep in the heart of the haunted forest, where monsters can check in for a little R&R without fearing human contact.

But while Dracula guards his hotel with his life, he guards his adolescent daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), even closer.

She has lived a sheltered life, confined to the hotel, since her mother's death a century earlier.

That is, until human manchild Johnny (Andy Samberg) unexpectedly arrives at the hotel on Mavis' 118th birthday and shakes things up.

What ensues is a disjointed catapult of a movie, one which more closely resembles an advertisement for the latest virtual reality amusement park ride than the story-driven animated films we love.

Our first glimpse of Johnny, snapping photos incessantly on his smart phone as he backpacks across the world, is enough to illicit a few laughs — we've all seen that wide-eyed, technology-obsessed kid before.

But soon the 21-year-old is riding his Razor scooter and dropping Dave Matthews Band and Slipknot references, and you realise just how out of touch this film is.

The clinging father storyline — filled with daughterly exclamations of: ''I just want to see the world!'' – and love at first sight trope (referred to as a ''zing'') are equally stale.

In the movie's final act, our monsters — which include a mummy, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, and a family of werewolves — leave the confines of the hotel and venture into the human world.

As our gang stumbles across a monster convention, full of costume-wearing monster-obsessed nerds, the film hits a high point.

The self-referential humor that arises from the absurdity of the situation is a welcome relief from the fart jokes and sight gags that fill the film's first two thirds.

However, it's too little too late. Ultimately, 'Hotel Transylvania' is a great choice for distracting the kids, who will likely respond well to the toilet humor and break-neck pace.

Unfortunately, there's not much in this film for theatergoers over the age of seven to hold on to.

Star Rating: 1½