Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Haunted Mansion, The
Walt Diney Pictures / Buena Vista Pictures


4.8

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 25 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG for frightening images, thematic elements and language

Starring Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Tilly, Terence Stamp, Marsha Thomason, Nathaniel Parker, Marc John Jefferies, Aree Davis, Martin Klebba, and Don Knotts

The Haunted Mansion comes alive like never before with eye-popping visual and special effects in this all-new, fun-filled, fright-packed comedy adventure. (Disney)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Family/Kids \| Fantasy \| Horror
WRITTEN BY:	David Berenbaum
DIRECTED BY:	Rob Minkoff
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 20, 2004 Video: April 20, 2004 Theatrical: November 26, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	99 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A fright show artfully designed for the whole family, a comedy that all but the most impressionable children will likely get a kick out of.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

This Mansion should satisfy, at least until the disappointing climax.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What I got was a fairly intriguing story and an actual plot that is actually resolved. That doesn't make the movie good enough to recommend, but it makes it better than the ads suggest.

Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand

The result is like near-beer: The taste is familiar, but the spirit is missing.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

It's notoriously difficult to balance lighthearted humor with the spookiness a good ghost story requires, but director Rob Minkoff is surprisingly successful, delivering a satisfying mix of laughs and mild scares aimed at a young audience.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Terence Stamp and Wallace Shawn spend a fair amount of time skulking around as ghostly servants, which kept me amused for the movie's 99 minutes.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Pleasant and atmospheric family romp, offering enough mildly chilling thrills to keep everyone entertained during its brief running time.

Film Threat Kevin Carr

With The Haunted Mansion, Eddie Murphy continues in a long line of family film stinkers.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

While it may supply giggles and shivers to preteens, grownups should think twice before entering this all-too-haunted house.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It is spectacularly average. Neither an inspired reimagining nor a painful dud,

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The story introduces a mystery halfway through to keep the plot from running out of steam, but neither its set-up nor its resolution provide much drama.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

The words "Welcome foolish mortals" open Walt Disney Pictures' The Haunted Mansion, a movie based on Disneyland and Walt Disney World's classic theme park attractions. The foolish mortals, of course, would be those who pay $9 a ticket at the door.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's dull, childish, and uninspired.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Surprisingly decent.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

It's perfectly palatable family fare for a long weekend.

Washington Post Jen Chaney

Eddie Murphy is less offensive than Dr. Seuss.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Won't surprise you, but it's more tolerable than the grating, garish, millinery-challenged Cat. Besides, a cadaverous Terence Stamp trumps a glossy Alec Baldwin as a bad guy any day.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The special effects display is so lacking in imagination it turns into so much noise, just a flashy distraction from the stiff, stock cliches of the by-the-numbers script.

Empire Ian Freer

Doesn’t deliver a sliver of the fun and thrall the ride serves up in a fraction of the time.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A return to form -- bad form. Lifeless, unimaginative and almost determinedly uninspired, it's paint-by-numbers filmmaking at its dreariest.

USA Today Mike Clark

A Disney Thanksgiving movie that plays like a Halloween holdover is odd enough. Even so, it wouldn't be that bad if you stuck your hand into the trick-or-treat bag and found a hefty, succulently dressed and edible turkey instead of the other kind.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Does nothing right and, blessedly, vanishes swiftly like the aroma of a nasty belch.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Tame and witless enough to make me long for the ancient, dusty fright kitsch of ''The Munsters.''

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It's also hard to figure out who this movie is supposed to delight: It's too scary for little kids and not nearly scary enough for anyone allowed to rent "The Ring" without getting carded.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Learn from the Evers family: The Haunted Mansion is not worth the detour.

Variety Robert Koehler

Mansion's drab comic strokes and narrative render the movie almost superfluous.

Premiere Maia Abraham

Perhaps The Haunted Mansion will scare the ride-adaptation trend out of Disney's system. Let's hope Mr. Toad doesn't have a development deal.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A tepid comedy whose only saving grace is the face of Jennifer Tilly in a crystal ball.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

This mostly laugh-and scare-free turkey offers an utterly bored -- and boring -- Eddie Murphy taking a back seat to special effects, elaborate sets and a wispy story slapped together by David Berenbaum (the overrated "Elf").

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Can't have an American Thanksgiving without a turkey.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

The movie is a funereally paced downer.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The only entertaining member of the cast is Terence Stamp.

Village Voice Brian Parks

Lamer than Tiny Tim on a damp London day.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The film equivalent of the dark, boring period on a haunted house ride before the gondola crashes into another room filled with dirty mirrors.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.8 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Claire J. gave it an 8:
Its a great movie but i still rate it an 8.

Saer A. gave it a 6:
Not sure if I liked The Haunted Mansion. There were some scenes where I liked it and some where I dont. Also, I believe that a movie like this does'nt need to be a PG movie... a movie like this deserves to be PG-13. This is'nt a kids movie for ages 7 and younger. But ovverall I thought the movie was kind of good.

Wongit gave it a 7:
It was alright, i honestly was expecting one shitty movie but this was okay. It depicted the ride quite well. Parts were funny. Even though the ride dosent give much to work with it does an alright job of making a somewhat interesting movie. The one thing i thought sucked was the ending... cheesy.

Kyle T. gave it a 10:
I really don't care what the rest of the people say. This is a great movie for all ages. Possibly a little scary for children under the age of 5 or 6 depends on the child. But over all i give this movie a perfect 10. Jennifer Tilly did a wonderful job as Madame Leota who doesn't have a large part in the ride but provides as a key for the Movie. Eddie Murphy what can i say but wonderful. The kids did a dreat job also. Disney did good justice to the Theme park ride. Great Movie. A must see!!!

T. C. gave it a 7:
It has a simple plot, therefore lacks some originality but I think it deserves some credit in its graphics and entertainment. While not extremely hilarious, it's quite entertaining.

Jamal J. gave it a 0:
Jamal says Eddie bro what the hell are you thinking making this crap? Bro you are better than doing this stuff. It seems to Jamal that all you are trying to do is to make some easy scratch. Bro you better get your career back on track before they show you the door. This Mansion sucked.

Marsha T. gave it a 3:
Not the worst movie of the year, but COME ON, Disney, you could have done better than that! Granted, the ride at the amusement park doesn't give you much to work with, but if you can't think up something creative, don't make the movie in the first place! The premise of the movie is unrealistic, and just goes from bad to worse... the whole bit at the end with the wife switching bodies was just preposterous.

Haunted Mansion, The Walt Diney Pictures / Buena Vista Pictures

Haunted Mansion, The
Walt Diney Pictures / Buena Vista Pictures