Haunted Mansion (2023)

 

I don't have a lot to say about this film, it was fine and I liked the main characters, but it is in a rush to get somewhere after the first act, and that was not necessary. The opening section of the film nicely introduced us to the characters we are going to follow and it sets up the premise pretty well. I liked the photography angle and the story about grief is the hook that provides an emotional reason for watching the film. The problem is that once everyone is in the house the movie gets cluttered.

The number of times I have enjoyed the attraction that the film is based on would be hard to count. Most people will be happy to see the consistency of the references. It just seemed to me however that the film was mostly interested in getting in all those Easter eggs and not particularly interested in keeping the emotional thread at the center of events. There are several shots where it seems like there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of ghosts on screen at the same time. The effects in the mansion are rushed and you get no sense of thrill, fear or adventure from them as a result. 

There is a lot of frantic running through the mansion and away from ghosts, but at one point it had been suggested that the ghosts were running and that would have been a more interesting way for the story to develop. LaKeith Stanfield and Rosario Dawson sometimes feel like they are in a different movie than the other stars. Their story is potentially frightening and suspenseful. Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish and Danny DeVito are all in a movie that is comedy based. Their antics feel the most like the corny elements of the Haunted Mansion Ride. Jared Leto is a fully CGI character, but his voice and mannerisms (I assume motion captured) are correct for the movie, although the lighting and photography usually emphasizes the light hearted spirit of the film, even though his character is supposed to be quite dark.

At heart, this remains a kids movie. It has a PG-13 rating, and I am trying to remember what it was that would have pushed it over the PG edge. Maybe the subject of spooks is just enough to have the MPAA and the film makers squeamish about showing it to kids, but I think if your kids have seen Ninja Turtles, then they are probably fine to see this without too many reservations. I do think the fact that all the effects are CG does tend to render the film a little more safe, that's an artistic and financial choice that Disney has made. 

The 2003 version with Eddie Murphy is a vague memory. I think a couple of characters share the same names, but the story premise was not anything like this, at least as far as I recall. It looks like if you want to see this in a theater, you should get cracking. Last week's boxoffice was weak, we were the only two in the theater today, and other films are sucking up all the oxygen, so this will probably be streaming by September.