'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania' review:  Parents and kids won't be disappointed

WHAT IT'S ABOUT "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania," the fourth movie in the megapopular animated series that began in 2012, finds Dracula (Brian Hull, replacing Adam Sandler) at a personal crossroads.

The count plans to retire from his role as the proprietor of his hotel for monsters, handing over the keys to daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and his mortal son-in-law Johnny (Andy Samberg).

There's just one problem, as anyone familiar with the franchise surely knows: Dracula can't trust the annoyingly earnest Johnny to maintain the hotel as he'd like it.

Desperate to impress his father-in-law once and for all, Johnny figures that becoming more like him might just be the way to do it. Conveniently enough, Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), living in the hotel's basement, has a device that turns humans into monsters and vice versa.

Johnny becomes a monster, Dracula accidentally turns back into a human and the device promptly breaks. So we join Johnny and Dracula on a "Jungle Cruise"-like journey in South America on a quest to reverse things.

MY SAY First, an admission: There won't be any deep-rooted analysis of where "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania" stands within the franchise canon in this review, because this critic had been totally unfamiliar with the series until now.

But, let's be honest: we're not exactly talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe here. One need not be well acquainted with every twist and turn in this nearly decadelong "Transylvania" journey to recognize exactly what's going on with this fourth movie.

The basic formula: Funny and charming gags, such as monsters bogeying down to the "Cha Cha Slide," mix well with in-jokes about these mythical figures, voiced by an all-star ensemble (not just Samberg and Gomez, but Kathryn Hahn, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Keegan-Michael Key, David Spade and others).

The conceit works well enough to mostly distract from the tired adventure movie plot. Journeys in search of MacGuffins in the South American rainforest have been such a cinematic standard for so long that any return to the setting almost by default signifies a lack of creativity.

It's also rather strange listening to Hull (a noted impressionist) step in for Sandler and offer his best attempt at mimicking the Sandman's distinctive goofy vocal patterns. It's not an exact parallel, but the film evokes some memories of the "Aladdin" sequel "The Return of Jafar," where Dan Castellaneta replaced Robin Williams. Some people are irreplaceable.

It's unclear why Sandler and, for that matter, the Stony Brook-raised Kevin James (who played Frank, aka Frankenstein's Monster, in the first three movies), aren't back for this sequel when the rest of the A-list cast has returned.

But, who are we kidding, the target audience for "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania," won't notice any of this. For them, the movie delivers the goods.

BOTTOM LINE Parents eagerly anticipating this picture along with their young children won't be disappointed — it has enough freshness and spontaneity to justify its existence.