Film Review - Haunted Mansion
Images courtesy of The Walt Disney Company.
Disney has, for the most part, a pretty good track record when it comes to turning their theme park attractions into movies. Jungle Cruise, Mission to Mars and Tomorrowland were all harmless enough, Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the highest grossing franchises of all time, and the less said about The Country Bears, the better. 2003's The Haunted Mansion is still pretty memorable for most people who grew up in the noughties, which is more than can be said about most of Disney's recent output. With their current trend of remakes showing no signs of stopping, and the studio without any ongoing IP that would easily fit into the Halloween season (so much for those hoping to see a continuation of Werewolf by Night), it's not surprising that we'd see the Mouse and his cohorts give it another crack.
The new Haunted Mansion delivers a fresh coat of paint, dropping the "The" (it's cleaner) and upping the humour and emotion of the original, possessing a cast that features Lakeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddish, and Jared Leto, of all people - relegated to a voice performance, although instantly recognising him as a gross CG ghoul did bring about some involuntary flashbacks to last year's smash-hit Morbius. Following Ben Matthias (Stanfield), a disgraced astrophysicist turned sceptical paranormal tour guide, as he is enlisted by a rogue priest and exorcist (Wilson) to document the ghosts that haunt Gracey Manor, the film blazes through its first act, becoming somewhat of a jumbled mess in its rush to get the team together.
Thankfully, once the players are assembled and everyone's stuck in the house together, the chemistry between its leads is front and centre, helping to gloss over some of the more egregious pacing and tonal issues. Everyone gets their moment to shine, and it seems like it would've been fun to be on-set in between takes. That being said, there's something about cutting from whacky supernatural hijinks to a tragic backstory about a dead wife that feels like the screenwriters bit off more than they could chew, even if it still manages to be effective thanks to Stanfield's commitment to the moment, despite the monologue including an obnoxious mention of Baskin-Robbins.
However, it's worth mentioning that the increased focus on the humour does come at the expense of the scares, and while, sure, a movie aimed at a family audience shouldn't be too horrifying, it does feel like a bit of an over-correction from the Eddie Murphy film. Every moment that could be even the tiniest bit spooky is almost immediately undercut with a gag, or scored with goofy staccato-like instrumentation. I can understand injecting levity in the audience by repeatedly showing the characters unbothered by the predicament they're in, but at a certain point, it feels like the tone and the plot are diametrically opposed to one another. Offering up serviceable (if more than a tad messy) family fun, Haunted Mansion comes close to recapturing Disney's straight to home video glory, complete with a dance party finale.
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