The Haunted Mansion (Widescreen Edition)

From the onset I knew I was in for a "treat" ~ another Disney ride turned into a movie. When will there be some more animation from the Disney folks? The movie has its funny moments and I am talking funny in the "I don't have to use four letter words to be funny". It is not Eddie Murphy's best (personally, I liked Dr. Doolittle) but it's very good. Murphy and his wife, real estate brokers who have a chance to get the big score, are invited to a grand old mansion for a chance to sell it and make a huge profit. Greed as always wins out over common sense and the family enters a set-up thrill ride. Some of the special effects are lame but it is just scary enough, nothing of offensive nature which makes it perfect for a Friday night rental. I give it a solid recommendation.

As a long time fan of the ride, I was looking forward to this film. However, this movie is not done in the spirit of the ride, but rather in boring and typical family films.

There are two competing stories in this: The story of Eddie Murphy's family, in which he and his wife are real estate agents and he has trouble stopping work long enough to spend time with his family. The second has to do with the history of New Orleans, tragedy, romance, and the supernatural. Which sounds more interesting?

The story that Disney chose to work with for this was very bland and could have been used for another venue. They had a fantastic set up and wasted the opportunity to do yet another story that few can relate to. (Unless you happen to know a lot of people in high paying jobs whose only problems are forcing themselves to spend more time with their loved ones.)

I can say that the man who played Lord Gracy is a very fine actor, very talented and handsome (His voice is to die for.) and that you will have a treat with what little they do for his story.

All in all, I would recommend that you borrow the movie from a friend, unless you are looking for the cookie cutter type of family film that is far too prevalent these days.

Whats next as a Disney movie? They made the Country Bear Jamboree, Pirates of the Caribbean( In threefold),The Haunted Mansion....I am going to eat my mickey mouse ears hat with my name embroidered on it if i see coming soon from Disney " The Hall of Presidents(Plot being that one of the animatronic presidents turns evil and tries to find a way to make himself real to take over the world, and all the other presidents band together to stop him, I am seeing in the bad president role Richard Nixon because everyone sees him that way anyway and he is really peeved about that in the Hero President roll i see George Washington of course, in the "sidekick" president roll i see Chester Arthur who was pres 1881-1885 because his name is chester first of all, and no one has heard of him so that makes him prime material to be all latched onto the most famous president.) ANYWAY, the Haunted Mansion Blew, it was horrible, Eddie Murphy has lost it!

Anyone who is a fan of the ride Haunted Mansion at any of the Disney parks will enjoy this movie and will find the elements of the ride peppered through out. The fleshed out story of the Gracey family was inventive and the special effects were enjoyable without being over done.

If you notice the ratings on this movie you rarely see a child's rating or a parent's rating. When your watching this movie alone and your over your teen years remember on the front cover it says Walt Disney. This movie to me is severely underrated I think the entire cast and crew did a great job from the special effects to the acting. The story was good not too original but it was done very well. I think some people aren't liking Eddy Murphy's change to childrens movie's and that's why everyone he's in can't get anything over 3 1/2 stars. We have to remember if the kids get a laugh out of it and a few jumps then it was a good movie and there's keeping them occupied and that's exactly what this does. Babysitters I highly recommend.