Director: Justin Simien
Run time: 2 hours 3 min
Haunted Mansion comes to audiences 20 years after the Eddie Murphy led version. Although curiously debuting in the summer, the film’s cast and script bring the necessary topic of grief and how to work through it to the forefront, all in an unabashed way.

Haunted Mansion juggles two intersecting storylines, primarily focusing on Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield) a former scientist who married a ghost enthusiast named Alyssa; Ben will eventually be hired by Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), a fellow widow. As the main character, Ben leads ghost tours, but with minimal energy, as he’s hiding grief from the loss of his wife. He’s known for being a bit of a curmudgeon around the New Orleans area. Gabbie recently bought a house across town for her and her son, Travis (Chase Dillon). Gabbie and Travis were looking for a change of scenery, but quickly realized their new house is haunted. They choose to stay but only after recruiting Father Kent (Owen Wilson), which brings in Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), Bruce Davis (Danny DeVito), and of course, Ben, who’s only there for payment. The plan is merely to rid the house of ghosts, but they soon find out there’s more to the house and spirits in general.
The cast is a very cute and endearing family by the film’s end. Their roles are fairly typical for a whodunit (tour guide, priest, historian, psychic), but the actors are sincere, creating good energy and timing on screen. Though difficult to find a standout amongst a crowd of such seasoned actors, Dillon holds his own against the rest of the motley crew. His acknowledgement of grief of his deceased father is the heart of the film. DeVito is always a joy in action and fortunately Stanfield continues to land solid roles. But one character that could have been highlighted more was the setting. The audience will definitely know they’re in New Orleans, but the film doesn’t spend enough time on the ground, with the characters moving through the city, for the settling to feel substantial to the story.

Though the script is thorough enough, likely because of what the cast does with it, the film does jump around quickly creating a bit of a disconnected feel. The timeline of the film moves from past to present frequently and also across New Orleans so much that a whiplash effect creeps in. When the narrative slows down and focuses on the central group, whether they’re interacting with one another or the additional cast, the film is at its strongest. The strength fades when the film speeds back up and moves into exposition though; even some of the scenes with the spirits come across as mere moments of plot. The reason for the spirits and the larger community coming together is intriguing, as everyone battles their own form of grief, but the interaction between the two just doesn’t have much weight to it.
When comparing Disney’s physical rides to their adaptations, Pirates of the Caribbean will always be the epitome of IP. Haunted Mansion doesn’t hit the mark of that franchise mainly because the film doesn’t achieve scares–even for a family movie–or enough general ambiance. A particular issue here is the film debuting in July. At the time, Across the Spider-Verse was the main competition for family films, but hopefully this film found an audience during the recent Halloween weekend.

In closing, Haunted Mansion is a decent family movie that hopefully leads to a little bit of fun and some sincere conversations around grief. Check it out on Disney+.
3.5 out of 5