The Haunted Mansion is a lame children's film that is short on laughs and a good story. Realtor Jim Evers and his wife and business partner Sara get a call from mansion owner Edward Gracey, who is looking to sell his property. Smelling the biggest deal of their career, Jim, Sara and their two children pay a visit to the mansion, located on a remote bayou. A thunderstorm strands the Evers family in the old mansion with the brooding, eccentric Gracey, his mysterious butler, Ramsley, and a variety of residents both seen and unseen. Will they be able to figure out what's going on and survive the night? The plot is based on a ride so I wouldn't really expect a really good story. However, the story is weaker then expected and its stupid. Kids won't be interested in the story though, they just want a fun film to watch. Kids may have some fun but anyone over the age of twelve probably won't. Its just a bit of a boring ride since there is really nothing exciting about the film. The acting is, at best, average with the best being Jennifer Tilly. She is a bit underrated and she would sometimes have some really funny lines. Eddie Murphy was enjoyable to watch in Daddy Day Care but he is really bad in this film. Terence Stamp plays the butler and does an okay job. Marsha Thomason plays Sarah and she did a terrible job. She was really boring to watch on screen and didn't show a lot of emotion either. Marc John Jefferies and Aree Davis play their two kids and they both actually give tolerable performances. Rob Minkoff seems to have lost his touch after making The Lion King since his last two kid films have been average at best. The best thing about the Haunted Mansion is that it had pretty good special effects. Nothing spectacular, but still not too cheesy looking. The music was horrible, but I guess they were trying to get a scary vibe which didn't work. The film is of course not scary and I don't think it was trying to be scary. If the film was supposed to be scary then it might work on little kids but it's a weak effort. The running time is only 97 minutes which makes the movie a little more tolerable to watch. Its better then The Country Bears but not as good as Pirates of the Caribbean. It's also not as good as Daddy Day Care which was a lot more enjoyable to watch. In the end, Haunted Mansion has little going for it as its hurt by shoddy direction and a weak script, there are few positives to be found here so I recommend you just skip it. Rating 4.3/10
Review of The Haunted Mansion
