X
- 2023
- PG-13
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
Summary Single mom Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest, and a historian to help exorcise their newly bought mansion; after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts.
Directed By: Justin Simien
Written By: Katie Dippold
- 2023
- PG-13
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
Haunted Mansion
47
4.6
Where to Watch
Summary Single mom Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest, and a historian to help exorcise their newly bought mansion; after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts.
Directed By: Justin Simien
Written By: Katie Dippold
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 52 Critic Reviews
47
29% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
60% Mixed
31 Reviews
31 Reviews
12% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 52 Critic Reviews
47
29% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
60% Mixed
31 Reviews
31 Reviews
12% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Simien has created a thoughtful movie experience that feels diverse, funny and visually interesting. Those expecting an exact recreation of the ride won’t find it here, which may be for the best. Despite a few cartoon-y scenes, Simien and his cast elevate Haunted Mansion to a thoroughly entertaining and oddly emotional good time.
At a little more than two hours (about the length of the line to get into the actual ride), The Haunted Mansion sometimes strains to keep up its frenetic pace. But the fun tone is on point, and younger family members in the audience are in little actual danger of being traumatized by fear.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 106 User Ratings
4.6
30% Positive
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
32% Mixed
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
38% Negative
40 Ratings
40 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 106 User Ratings
4.6
30% Positive
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
32% Mixed
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
38% Negative
40 Ratings
40 Ratings
I adored this rendition of the Haunted Mansion! I have to admit that I also really loved Eddie Murphy's version but this one was refreshingly different and I loved Ben Matthias especially. Having a character with the kind of skepticism displayed in him being the hero is both funny and refreshing to see. Owen Wilson was a great supporting actor in this movie as well and Rosario did excellently as she always does. It does not disappoint but throwing in a few great cameos and an excellently put-together storyline made it purely fun and entertaining. Our whole family really loved this one and I will definitely be recommending it to others as a new movie for families and those who like a gothic story here and there!
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Is it for everyone? No. It’s not necessarily a comedy, nor is it a horror movie. That being said, it’s a near-perfect love letter to the ride. Though it does lull a bit at times, its overall tone is one that feels like a two-hour journey through the iconic attraction. And with some truly insightful outlooks on grief with plenty of heartwarming moments, this movie is MADE for the archetypal Disney fan.
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Disney’s latest renovation of “Haunted Mansion” is certainly clever in building off the foundation of the theme-park ride, with a darker streak than the last stab 20 years ago that starred Eddie Murphy. Yet even with a solid cast yielding good moments, there’s a general flatness to it, and a sense the movie is seeking to scare up what it can in theaters before settling into its natural haunting grounds on Disney+.
Waffling Disney can’t decide if it wants this thing to be a quirky and fun but unsettling movie like “Beetlejuice,” with some real guts and creativity, or another schlocky ad for a Disney World FastPass. At times Simien’s film is surprisingly dark and emotionally honest, while at others it’s kitschier than “The Country Bear Jamboree.”
The material simply isn’t strong or self-interested enough to support a cast as rich as the one Simien assembles here, a fact made all the more obvious by the director’s natural facility for staging ensemble comedy in the face of mortal danger.
At a running time of over two hours, the experience eventually feels as wearisome as riding the same ride over and over again.
A movie like Haunted Mansion is always going to be, at its heart, a cinematic advertisement for the theme park, but couldn’t we at least run with that idea and make it fun?
Haunted Mansion is refreshingly adept at what it wants to be: nostalgia tinted fan service which creatively checks all the boxes of a theme park attraction. It offers solid chuckle-worthy humor throughout with the occasional belly laugh; a good level of spooks, which are fun to behold but safe for the family; and a great cast who bring dedication to their parts, no matter how silly. The art direction is fantastic, the editing is swift, and the score offers many creative uses of the ride theme. Most importantly the filmmakers have captured the vibe of the ride, which is all a fan could ask for. That they manage to do it so stylishly in a way that doesn’t make eyes roll is miraculous.
The negatives of the movie are that it doesn’t start out great and takes a bit to get interesting; there are a couple too many “heart warming” scenes that throw off the pace, however necessary they may be to story payoffs; and the humor borders on cheeky at times, which doesn’t always translate to high rewatchability.
All that stands in the way of Haunted Mansion becoming a perennial holiday classic is testing its rewatchability. If these jokes are still chuckle-worthy after two or three viewings, then it could enter a rare pantheon of movies that a certain demographic of film fans are compelled to watch every year. Granted “A Christmas Story” is a holiday favorite that, were I to watch it every week, would become increasingly impotent at delivering the holiday spirit it’s called to deliver on time every year. Haunted Mansion isn’t on the same level of brilliance as the most celebrated seasonal fare but it’s nevertheless a welcome contribution to a lovable niche I call “spooky but safe.” This lives at the edge of ‘camp’ and generally includes halloween episodes of your favorite tv shows and youth oriented horror— much of it made by Disney. There is something that makes us inherently giddy about the supernatural, and when mixed with light comedy, it creates an extremely entertaining confection. This is Haunted Mansion’s mission statement and in my book, it succeeds.
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Haunted Mansion
In this supernatural horror comedy, Gabbie and her son, Travis, move into a new house that's haunted. Their quest to banish these spirits leads them to assemble an unconventional team including an astrophysicist and paranormal guide, a priest, a history professor, and a psychic medium. Through their encounters with the supernatural, Haunted Mansion dances around grief, exploring how it impacts people and influences their decisions.
This movie is haunted by many issues. The runtime here is arduous and even made more visible with pacing issues. The visual effects and CGI are very perplexing and subpar.
Being a comedy horror and probably with its target audience, Haunted Mansion isn't as scary as it should be. The main villain here is missing for most of the movie, and when he's finally shown, his impact isn't felt. Haunted Mansion also suffers from a bad case of exposition, we're taken from one back story to another which ends up making the plot convoluted.
The performances here are the best thing about this movie, although hindered by the script, the star-studded cast manages to make it tolerable. The emotional scenes are also handled well, and Tiffany Haddish as always is a comedic star.
Haunted Mansion ends as a movie that could have been funnier, scarier, and shorter.
5.5/10
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Before Disney went into an acquisition 'binge' with Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel, its live action division wasn't really doing that great. Mediocre, yet suprisingly high budgeted fare such as this was the norm. That's too bad because the cast was absolutelly stellar yet was given nothing to do. The audiences are more discerning these days and despite its production values, they knew a streaming movie when they see one.
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Haunted Mansion is a typical movie from modern Disney. There is a good cast, there is not a bad CGI. But everything else is either mediocre or terrible. In the first Haunted Mansion film for the younger age category, the film is not just made for children. There's no message or idea in it. Can we say that about Disney's gold projects? Which are relevant at any age. Haunted Mansion has nothing to surprise, it's a purely commercial project. I didn't watch the first film adaptation of 2003, but I'm sure it turned out better. Haunted Mansion is a vivid example of Disney's complete creative impotence. A check-in movie that no one wants to watch, I turned it on only for the sake of the cast. That's the only plus of the movie.
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Wish I could ask Disney why this film was made and who for. It is neither funny or scary so I can only assume the target audience would have been 8 to 12 year olds. Not convinced that they would be impressed by this piece of work. I was totally bored throughout the 2 hour runtime & am only grateful that I didn’t waste time and petrol seeing it on the big screen.
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Production Company
Walt Disney Productions,
Canadian Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC),
Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC),
Rideback,
The Walt Disney Company,
Walt Disney Pictures,
Walt Disney Studios
Release Date Jul 28, 2023
Duration 2 h 3 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline Home is where the haunt is.
Awards
Costume Designers Guild Awards
• 2 Nominations
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
• 1 Nomination
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Nomination
