The Haunted Mansion movie review, Rob Minkoff, Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Jennifer Tilly, Nathaniel Parker, Wallace Shawn

EEEEEE! TICKET
A scene from 'The Haunted Mansion'
Buy movie posters at AllPosters.com
Courtesy Photo
"THE HAUNTED MANSION"
** stars
98 minutes | Rated: PG
WIDE: Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Directed by Rob Minkoff

Starring Eddie Murphy, Nathaniel Parker, Terence Stamp, Marsha Thomason, Marc John Jefferies, Aree Davis, Jennifer Tilly, Wallace Shawn, Dina Waters, Steve Hytner, Heather Juergensen



 COUCH CRITIQUE
   SMALL SCREEN SHRINKAGE: 10%
   WIDESCREEN: NOT NECESSARY

Video babysitter at best.

   VIDEO RELEASE: 04.20.2004



 OTHER REVIEWS/COMING SOON
 
  • Rob Minkoff
  • Eddie Murphy
  • Terence Stamp
  • Marc John Jefferies
  • Jennifer Tilly
  • Wallace Shawn
  • Dina Waters
  • Disney theme ride movies
    ('03) "Pirates of the Caribbean..."
    ('02) "The Country Bears"


     LINKS for this film
    Official site
    at movies.yahoo.com
    at Rotten Tomatoes
    at Internet Movie Database
    Watch the trailer (apple.com)
    Another Disneyland ride becomes plot fodder in ghostly comedy that would be ghastly without Murphy's mugging

    By Rob Blackwelder

    As mechanical as an old Disneyland automaton, "The Haunted Mansion" is the third movie in a year from the Mouse House studio based on one of its own theme park rides -- and while it's certainly no inspired delight like "Pirates of the Caribbean," at least it's not as insufferably brain-dead as "The Country Bears."

    Eddie Murphy is at his family-flick hammiest as a typical workaholic Movie Dad in need of a trite examination of his one-dimensional priorities. A sycophantic phony of a real estate agent, he often misses soccer games and anniversary dinners to make a sale, so his wife (Marsha Thomason) and smart-lipped, eye-rolling kids (Marc John Jefferies, Aree Davis) are especially chagrined when he takes a detour during a family outing to try to land the account to sell a cobweb-covered manse out in the boonies.

    Scripted for maximum cluelessness, it takes Murphy's clan half the movie to catch on that the house is cursed and its occupants are ghosts, and the other half to realize what any half-astute viewer can ascertain in the first 15 minutes: The family becomes trapped in the house by its dead-by-his-own-hand Edwardian master (Nathanial Parker) because he thinks Murphy's wife is his reincarnated long-lost love who can lift the curse by marrying him.

    Taking design, F/X and story cues from the Disneyland ride of the same name, "The Haunted Mansion" goes through its motions with ironically little spirit as Murphy grins, mugs and screams to the kid-friendly spookiness of featherweight specters and ghouls (designed by creature king Rick Baker). But without the star's madcap magnetism, it would collapse like a 20-bedroom house of cards.

    Director Rob Minkoff (the "Stuart Little" movies) squanders brilliant supporting players like Terence Stamp ("The Limey") and Wallace Shawn ("The Princess Bride"). He noticeably chops out a couple transitional scenes, seemingly willy-nilly. He reduces the wife and kids to one-note clichés (or maybe that was screenwriter David Berenbaum, who did much better with "Elf"), and the actors certainly meet these low expectations.

    He seems far more focused on the film's style (suits-of-armor-lined hallways, secret passages, looming fireplaces) than on its haunted-house essence -- and even these elaborate set decorations have evident failings, like a pair of huge, ornate doors that are clearly nothing more than painted scrims if you give them any scrutiny at all.

    Although on many occasions Murphy provides "Mansion" with better comic moments than it deserves -- as he comes to realize what's important in life (of course) and does find the resolve to rescue his wife (of course) -- it's soon obvious he's carrying the movie's dead weight.

    Just imagine anyone else trying to breathe comedy into the line "Dark spirits? No dark spirits! Don't you make no dark spirits come out!" and one can see how much worse "The Haunted Mansion" could have been.



    ORDER IT NOW


    Buy from Amazon

    Rent from Netflix

    or Search for
     





    SEARCH SPLICEDwire
     
    powered by FreeFind
    SPLICEDwire home
    Online Film Critics Society
    ©SPLICEDwire
    All Rights Reserved
    Return to top
    Current Reviews
    SPLICEDwire Home