My Movie Review on The Haunted Mansion · 1:26pm Oct 21st, 2019

Good evening, my good friends and colleagues.

This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter once again here with another review.

And today, for my 5th installment of my "Spook Spectacular" series, I'll be reviewing Disney's "The Haunted Mansion".

Here's the summary of this film:

Jim and Sara Evers are a husband and wife duo of realtors who run a business called 'Evers and Evers Real Estate', and are the parents of two children named Michael and Megan.

On the Eve of their family vacation, though, the Evers receive a peculiar call from someone saying that they'd like to release a mansion to them for sale. Not wanting to throw away what he believes to be a grand opportunity, Jim decides to drag his family along and meet with the mansion's owner, Edward Gracey.

However, when circumstances beyond their control keep the family from leaving the house, they find that it and the residents of the household have a deeper history than meets the eye.

Running into several abnormalities, and finding themselves entangled in a mystery only they can solve, will the Evers ever be able to leave the mansion? Or will they be prisoners of it forever?

Having been aware of the film's negative reputation for some time, I really must say that this is another film with a reputation I literally can't understand. I mean, yes, it isn't flawless, but it's actually one of the most fun films I've ever seen. Perfect to celebrate Halloween with, if I might add.

For instance, the direction by Rob Minkoff, and the story by David Berenbaum, were marvelous! Whoever was saying that this film wasn't scary or funny was definitely wrong, I'll tell you that.

The comedy aspect of the film was actually something that I found to be really spot-on. It had perfect timings, was lighthearted and friendly, and contained lots of thought. There was likewise something about it that was reminiscent to that of classic Disney films, with a little modern-esque on the side.

I get that the scary side of the film is likely not at a level that would make it a full-on horror movie and I agree with that. In all honesty, though, I actually found that to be a good thing. I loved how the production team wasn't trying to be too overwhelming with the horror side, and there were actually still some great scares that were executed perfectly.

Most of all, though, this film was far from a soulless effort. Everything tied together perfectly; there was continual excitement, suspense, and intrigue; there was even heart, emotion, and morality, which is about love and family.

The CGI that was incorporated into the film was pretty well-done too. It isn't as groundbreaking as, say, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, but it's awesome all on its own. In my opinion, the most awesome of computer-generated elements was when the skeletons in the tomb came to life to attack Jim and Megan when they were taking the key. The skeletons looked so realistic, and they were quite honestly the scariest part of the film.

The music by Mark Mancina was fun as a plus. I love how, for every moment of the film, he was able to make the music equally compelling to the story and direction to immediately grab audiences with interest. The range that the music often went in, such as tones of mysteriousness, drama, and lightheartedness, were the elements of Mancina's music that stood out to me the most.

Finally, the acting, casting, characters, and character development were all extremely well-done.

Eddie Murphy and his character of Jim Evers are definitely among the cast and characters that I commend the most. Throughout the film, I found myself able to see that he clearly had limitless freedom as the star. His comedic-chops and clear improvisations were hysterical, and his abilities as one of the world's best actors really shined in this movie. Call me crazy, but I think Murphy and Disney mix perfectly together and that they should collaborate with each other more often. Another reason for why I think so comes from "Mulan", which I'll explain in my review of it as my 80th film review.

Even though Jim Evers himself was obviously not the brightest character in the film and was quite a chatterbox at times, he's not without heart. Murphy did a great job at making his character lovable and filled with life despite that, and Jim's development throughout was marvelous.

Terence Stamp and his character of Ramsley were astounding as well. Stamp was able to give his character a cold and unpredictable nature about him that made him so intimidating, and even though Ramsley may seem like a rather stiff type...as a villain, he isn't without personality, depth, and character development.

Now if I'm going to be honest, the film had some slight flaws that made it a little bit away from perfect.

Like I already said, I thought that the special effects were impressive. The one element I was less than moved by concerning that, though, was the skeleton horse that the characters of Ezra and Emma use to drive the carriage that Jim and the kids ride in. It was mainly because it was easy to tell it was computer-generated just by looking at it.

Along with that, there were a couple of cuss words that I felt had no place or necessity in a PG-rated film, particularly the use of a certain synonym for 'mule'.

In the end, though, despite the setbacks I just mentioned, "The Haunted Mansion" is quite frankly an underrated gem that proves itself to be a rollicking good time, and it's one of Eddie Murphy's best films too. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason this film got such a negative reputation to begin with is because people will look for any opportunity to pick on Murphy by taking advantage of the fact that many of his films didn't do so well.

So, I rate Disney's "The Haunted Mansion" a solid 4½ out of 5 stars. It isn't perfect, but it's still a fun film that entire families can enjoy.

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