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Sony Pictures Animation has never actually been able to keep up with the other big boy animators on the block. Movies like "Surf’s Up", "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", "The Smurfs", "Arthur Christmas" and "Pirates!" never met the critical acclaim or the wide acceptance of some of the movies from Disney, Pixar or even Universal. Yet, teaming up with Columbia Pictures on "Hotel Transylvania" may have been a really good move.

With the voice talents of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Cee Loo Green, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi and David Spade, "Hote Transylvania" has something for everybody. There were times in the film that I was a little overwhelmed with the constant bombardment of characters and jokes, but eventually the movie settled down and capitalized off of some character development and brought some pretty good heart to the story.

"Hotel Transylvania" has a lot of story and back-story, but it is all well explained and not your typical simple animated storyline. Dracula is raising his daughter, alone, so he builds a castle in the middle of Pennsylvania, fortified by rows and miles of zombie cemeteries and ghost forests. His hotel has become a fortress to keep he, his fellow monsters and most importantly, his daughter safe from the hateful murderous humans. His daughter is getting older though, she’s 118 now and she has become too curious about the outside world and she wonders if humans are really how they’ve been portrayed.

"Hotel Transylvania" is the Muppets, animated. There are a slew of characters who have gathered in one place for the birthday party of the century. All of the characters have their own personality and it reminded me of the Muppets as I watched it play out. Dracula, I compared to Kermit, trying to hold the show together as the onslaught of characters and personalities clashed. The jokes are fast and furious. Many of them aren’t that funny, but I did notice that many of the jokes were tailored toward adults and many were ones that kids would find gut tickling.

Ultimately though, "Hotel Transylvania" is a fun trip to the movies for all ages. Is it hilarious? I wouldn’t say so. At times I found it funny, but when it was all said and done, I was sold on the personality and the heart behind it. Despite all the silliness and the constant playing up to the kids of our age with the music and the hyperactivity, somewhere in there, there was a whole lot of heart behind it all.