Haunted Mansion, The

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.