Drac ooh la la!

The loss of Adam Sandler as the voice of Dracula might have driven a stake through the heart of the Hotel Transylvania movie franchise. But don’t nail that coffin shut just yet. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, streaming on Amazon Prime, brings more clever and mostly clean fun, with impressionist and YouTube star Brian Hull in his first major gig delivering a Sandler-worthy performance as Dracula.

Groovy sight gags, a timely message, and little objectionable material make Transformania entertaining viewing suitable for all but the youngest ages. The PG-rated film has some mildly spooky images, three shots of bare male backsides, but zero bad language.

As in prior Hotel Transylvania films, family conflict drives the plot of Transformania. Dracula plans to hand over management of the hotel to his vampire daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), and her human husband, Johnny (Andy Samberg), but has second thoughts. Johnny figures he’ll gain his fangy father-in-law’s trust by becoming a monster. A device that transforms Johnny into a dragon also turns Dracula human—and then breaks. Repair requires a crystal from South America.

While Johnny and Dracula trek through the rainforest, each gets amusing opportunities to walk in the other’s shoes. Johnny enjoys monster powers, such as flight and mosquito repellency. Dracula suffers allergies and body odor and other indignities of being human, but learns “if you only see the worst in things, you miss the best parts.” That’s a thought worth sinking your teeth into.