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Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Movie Review: Haunted Mansion (2023)

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Good characters and nods to the attraction
Cons: Familiar story and mixed special effects
The Bottom Line:
A new ghost story
Based on classic attraction
It is just okay



“I’m Going to Light a Vanilla Candle and It Will be a Game Changer.”  “Will It, Though?”

I realize I’m the minority, but I actually enjoy Disney’s first stab at a Haunted Mansion movie.  I feel it hits just the right notes of comedy with spooky suspense and is perfect viewing for families for this season.  However, I know lots of people were hoping for a Haunted Mansion remake, and the rumors have been swirling pretty much since the first one came out that we’d see a new one.  Now the new one has come out, and I found it less fun than the original.

This movie takes us to Louisiana where single mother Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) has just moved into a mansion she’s bought for her and her son Travis (Chase W. Dillon).  However, something is wrong in the house.  In an effort to figure it out, she brings in a priest (Owen Wilson), a tour guide specializing in ghost walks (LaKeith Stanfield), a psychic (Tiffany Haddish), and a local historian (Danny DeVito).  Can they help her?

I’ve got to admit, part of my issue with the movie was the set up.  My teaser was what I was expecting to see when I sat down to watch the movie.  Instead, we spend a lot of time with LaKeith Stanfield’s Ben before the story really gets going.  That makes sense later on since this is really his story, but I was trying to figure out exactly how he was related to the mother and son I was expecting to see.

As you’d expect, there are plenty of nods to the popular attractions.  I also love the fact that, while the majority of the action takes place around a mansion that looks like the attraction at Disneyland, they do get a mansion that looks like the one at Walt Disney World incorporated at one point.  Those kind of details are fun.  However, I will say that the original did a better job of working in those details.  I feel like there were more cameos and nods than we got here.

I also appreciated the characters.  It really does take all the characters I mentioned to save the day here.  Some play a bigger part than others, but it was nice not to see one character dominated things.  And the growth that a few characters got was nice as well.  The actors all did a great job bringing those characters to life, too.

Having said that, I wasn’t that drawn into the story.  It felt like it was checking boxes.  Maybe that’s because, while it did offer a bit of a twist on the Haunted Mansion mythology we’ve gotten over the years, it wasn’t anything terribly original.

While the original is a fun movie that could be appropriate for kids (it can get intense a few times), this one is much spookier.  I know that’s one thing that adult fans of the attraction have been rooting for, but this isn’t a movie for kids.  Parents will want to take the PG-13 rating seriously.

And the special effects were a mixed bag.  Some of them, especially when there are only one or two on screen, look good.  But in the big group scenes, like the climax, they look cheap and obvious.  It amazes me in this day when that happens.

I was curious enough that I’m glad I watched the new Haunted Mansion.  But, from now on, I’ll be sticking with the original for my Halloween viewing.

1 comment:

  1. I found this spookier than i expected! I haven't seen the original but will have to check it out.

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