The Haunted Mansion 2003 Buena Vista Home Entertainment Official Website Buy It Now

The Haunted Mansion is my favorite place on Earth.  No seriously.  I have, to the best of my limited counting and recalling abilities, ridden this ride well over a thousand times to date, if not plenty more...and each and every time I take that six minute trip through what has come to be known as the mansion of Mr. Gracey (named now after Yale Gracey, an Imagineer responsible for the look of the finished mansion) , I find it new, exciting, enchanting and worthy of another trip.  Lucky for Disney, there are countless maniacs like me that continue to clamor for more mansion, more mansion, more mansion!

In answer to this call has come tons of new merchandise available at the Disneyland theme parks, where the pickings were quite slim for a long time.  But again, there must be more!  My entire living room is coated in the spoils of each and every trip to Disneyland where I may spend $1,000 for the airfare, rental, food and hotel for a week, but have been known to ship back over twice that in Mansion and Pirates memorabilia, but when I see that there is a new pin released, I am the FIRST onto EBAY to buy it.  Hell, my EBAY user name is even MansionManiac.  I am not balanced to be sure, but the fact is there are a lot more people out there like me than you would think.  And this is good, Disney is going to need us!

You see, The Haunted Mansion takes the idea of "theme park ride into major motion picture" to a whole new level than say Pirates of the Caribbean or The Country Bears ever did.  While I was able to count somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 or so references to the ride in Pirates, Mansion's numerous nods were nearly uncountable!  There was a passion in the making of this film that rivaled that of the original ride designers, and for Haunted Mansion fans everywhere in the world, this film is sure to scratch their itch.  BUT, perhaps there is a little too much insider information thrown in here to make for easily digestible fare for the non-fan.

Where Pirates modus operandi seemed to be "make a really frickin great movie, base it on a hugely successful attraction at everyone's happiest place on Earth, and then pepper it with cleverly placed tributes to the ride", the makers of Haunted Mansion seemed much more interested in "recreating every single moment and one-liner of a great attraction and then trying to glue them together with a film that attempted the unique blend of comedy and terror that made the ride what it was".  I am not saying that they were not successful, because I thoroughly enjoyed this film, but I am saying that there is a lot less substance here if you don't "get" all the references to the ride.

I am reviewing the movie here, so I don't need to give you a full accounting of the history of the attraction, but a small amount of background is in order.  The Haunted Mansion was intended to be a walk-through scenario where the visitors would be guided by a creepy butler through a series of shock moments and eye-popping special effects.  After being shelved for a while during Disney's involvement with the World's Fair, the ride was reborn using the "doom" buggy technology that evolved from the atom-mobiles from the now mothballed Journey To Innerspace ride.  This allowed the ride designers to focus the visitors attentions in one or two distinct directions, and thus approach the ride more cinematically...to tell a story so to speak.

And it wasn't very long before a story began to appear...from the memo's of designers, to the whispers of the cast members employed to operate the ride, to a wide speculation about the location between New Orleans square and the Rivers of America; together a tale was woven.  A tale of the owner of a foreboding  mansion, perched atop a hill, haunted by the suicide of his bride-to-be, who then takes his own life.  A twisted tale to be sure, and not one that you would expect to find in the "happiest place on Earth", but then again...this was not the "official" story behind the mansion.  THAT would be left to screenwriter David Berenbaum (2003's Elf).

Eddie Murphy stars as the workaholic real estate agent, Jim Evers, of Evers and Evers Real Estate ("We want you to be happy for Evers and Evers"), who has been neglecting his wife and children due to a relentless pursuit of the closing deal.  He has missed too many birthday parties, too many friendly get-togethers, and too much of his kid's lives to simply apologize and move on anymore.  Now it is time he does something for the whole family...like a weekend away!  Well, as these things have a habit of doing in comedy films, something goes wrong and Jim is on the job again...but this time he has wife Sara (Marsha Thomason), son Michael (Marc John Jefferies), and daughter Megan (Aree Davis) along for the ride.  The property in question this time around?  An immense mansion, sitting isolated for untold years, and with more than a few secret skeletons in its closet...the Gracey Manor.

It isn't long before Jim and the whole Evers family are embroiled in a mystery of tragic loss and undying love, all the while in a house populated by hundreds of happy haunts...and a few angry, vengeful ones to boot!  Seems there was to be a wedding in this home a long, long time ago, but neither the bride nor groom made it to their special day alive...  Can Jim figure out the mystery of the two deceased lovers before his family is broken up and his wife becomes the newest love interest for the eerie lord of the manor; Master Gracey?

Chock full of special effects, The Haunted Mansion is a thrill ride packed with reminiscent moments for any fan of the ride.  Whether it be the singing busts, the floating candelabra, the 13th hour clock, the changing portraits, Madam Leota, the organ player, the Hitchhiking Ghosts, or the dangling feet of a recently hung Master Gracey; all of these moments and so many more are here.  The mansion itself is changed cosmetically on the outside, but the interiors look as though they could have been lifted straight from the ride at times.  And speaking of lifted straight from the ride...

...from the opening title and voiceover, "Welcome Foolish Mortals", to the ominous, "There's always MY way!", even the rides soundtrack and narration have been not-so-subtly lifted.  The trouble is, these have sometimes been inserted into the film simply for the sake of their inclusion (as a tribute), and the result could be fairly confusing for the casual viewer who has no previous experience with the Haunted Mansion ride.  Overall, however, the film is quite cohesive and stands on its own fairly well through a blend of great supporting actors and a decent storyline. 

There is an amazing amount of computer effects, and each one is spectacularly done.  From the eerie glowing of a graveyard full of ghosts, to the mansion's exterior itself, the look and feel of the film are very inviting to all genre fans, no matter the familiarity with the attraction.  Disembodied heads, floating spirits, scrambling spiders...each one is a creepy delight and looks wonderful on screen; whether big or small.  The real standouts, however, are the special makeup effects.

Headed up by Rick Baker, the physical effects department rivals, if not surpasses, the digital elements.  Mr. Baker, a legend in the make-up trade (Hellboy, Planet Of The Apes, The Frighteners, An American Werewolf In London) creates for The Haunted Mansion, a series of zombie and ghost effects that fit the light spirit of the film, but still border on ghastly.  At first, his designs were much softer and more acceptable, but the powers that be actually told him to make his creatures more frightening and realistic!  A rare idea indeed in a Disney film, but one that we saw mirrored in Pirates Of The Caribbean's cursed crew of the damned.  The fantastic effects were also overseen (especially the zombies) by Jim Beinke, who has already proven that he can work well with Baker in Planet of the Apes, and the resulting combination of these two craftsmen is worthy of any horror fan out there.

The way a film looks is only half of the puzzle though, as it must be engaging to the audience as well.  Eddie Murphy turns in a signature performance as the slightly over the top and way too animated Jim Evers.  His erratic style is grounded in reality through the performance of Marsha Thomason as his wife.  Her face captures just as much expression and emotion as Murphy's captures rubber-faced insanity.  But I believe that both of these veteran actors were overshadowed by the intense moroseness of Terence Stamp as the age old butler, Ramsley.  His icy demeanor and callous cunning induce far more smiles than Murphy's over-the-top grasps for laughs.  Then there is Jennifer Tilly...well, ya know, let's just not talk about Jennifer Tilly...

But we are not talking Oscar material here, anyway, are we?  The Haunted Mansion is in every way a Disney film.  Family lessons, a happy ending, and tons of comedy and slapstick zaniness abound.  You simply must realize that going into a film like this, you are not going to get the lightning of Pirates to strike again.  Think back to Don Knotts' The Ghost And Mr. Chicken, and cross it with an 80's style flick like House, and you will get an idea of the flavor of this Mansion.  This is a fun romp, through a fun setting, with a fun premise, that turns into...well, a lot of fun.

Some of this fun can be seen in the included bonus features, especially the bloopers reel and the "making of" featurette.  Deeper looks into the film can be found in the deleted scenes and the "Ghosts In The Graveyard" special that looks into the creation of the ghastly spirits that populate Gracey Mansion.  If it is a deeper look into the ride itself you are looking for, it is here as well, although it is included in the same (somewhat disappointing) way as it was for Pirates Of The Caribbean, in DVD-ROM format.  Why can't we get a produced special on these two great rides instead of having to sit in front of the computer and explore some content?  After all, there is all the technical and historical info you could ever want already on-line at enthusiast Chef Mayhem's two fantastic (yet unofficial) sites, doombuggies.com and tellnotales.com.  The other extra features are typical of any release, yet to a fan or collector such as myself, every little tidbit is a treat.

The Haunted Mansion is ultimately a film made for fans, by apparent fans.  There is however some seriously funny moments and some great shocks and surprises to keep just about any audience interested.  A younger audience would absolutely love this movie and it makes a great primer into the genre of horror for future fans.  Both Disney and Eddie Murphy have done some better work, but not in a setting and environment that is nearly as fun!  My advice to all you foolish mortals is to guide your hearse to the DVD store and load this one into the back for the trip home.

DEAD END! Prepare To Exit To The Living World!

-aaron-