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The Haunted Mansion
Metascore
34 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 34 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 34
  3. Negative: 15 out of 34
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    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.
  2. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    70
    This Mansion should satisfy, at least until the disappointing climax.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    63
    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.
  4. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: David Hiltbrand
    63
    The result is like near-beer: The taste is familiar, but the spirit is missing.
  5. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    60
    Pleasant and atmospheric family romp, offering enough mildly chilling thrills to keep everyone entertained during its brief running time.
  6. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Angel Cohn
    60
    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.
  7. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    60
    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.
  8. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Robert K. Elder
    50
    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.
  9. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    While it may supply giggles and shivers to preteens, grownups should think twice before entering this all-too-haunted house.
  10. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    50
    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.
  11. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    50
    Surprisingly decent.
  12. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    50
    It is spectacularly average. Neither an inspired reimagining nor a painful dud,
  13. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    It's dull, childish, and uninspired.
  14. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    50
    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.
  15. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Kevin Carr
    50
    With The Haunted Mansion, Eddie Murphy continues in a long line of family film stinkers.
  16. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    50
    It's perfectly palatable family fare for a long weekend.
  17. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Jen Chaney
    50
    Eddie Murphy is less offensive than Dr. Seuss.
  18. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    42
    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.
  19. Empire
    Reviewed by: Ian Freer
    40
    Doesn’t deliver a sliver of the fun and thrall the ride serves up in a fraction of the time.
  20. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    38
    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.
  21. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    38
    A return to form -- bad form. Lifeless, unimaginative and almost determinedly uninspired, it's paint-by-numbers filmmaking at its dreariest.
  22. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    33
    Tame and witless enough to make me long for the ancient, dusty fright kitsch of ''The Munsters.''
  23. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    33
    Does nothing right and, blessedly, vanishes swiftly like the aroma of a nasty belch.
  24. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    30
    Learn from the Evers family: The Haunted Mansion is not worth the detour.
  25. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    30
    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.
  26. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    30
    Mansion's drab comic strokes and narrative render the movie almost superfluous.
  27. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    25
    A tepid comedy whose only saving grace is the face of Jennifer Tilly in a crystal ball.
  28. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    25
    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").
  29. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Maia Abraham
    25
    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.
  30. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    25
    Can't have an American Thanksgiving without a turkey.
  31. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Chuck Wilson
    20
    The movie is a funereally paced downer.
  32. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Brian Parks
    20
    Lamer than Tiny Tim on a damp London day.
  33. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    20
    The film equivalent of the dark, boring period on a haunted house ride before the gondola crashes into another room filled with dirty mirrors.
  34. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    20
    The only entertaining member of the cast is Terence Stamp.
    All this critic's reviews
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User Reviews

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User Score
4.6 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 28 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 25
  3. Negative: 9 out of 25
  1. Treblotski
    5
    Before I watch movies like "The Haunted Mansion", I usually turn of my sense of humor, because I won't need it anyway. This movie is not it's title worthy. It could have done better, but wait, what? Why I keep saying that? Some movies are just not meant to be perfect; they're made to make young Americans laugh.… Full Review »
  2. JawsPapi87
    1
    Wow. I detest this movie so much. It's just awful all around and even though I saw it when I was like seven years old I can still recall how there was no point and no satisfactory part of this movie at all… Full Review »
  3. guardboy21
    4
    I thought this movie was okay. It could of been better. But I thought that the 2 child actors did a better job acting than the rest of the cast. But I really liked the trivia associated with the ride.… Full Review »
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