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The Haunted Mansion (Widescreen Edition)

The Haunted Mansion (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $29.99
Your Price: $26.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Terence Stamp gets the 2nd star...
Review: After PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN turned out so well, I had hopes Disney would succeed again with my other favorite Disneyland ride. Eddie Murphy has certainly become the king of light, enjoyable "family" comedy, and the trailers made the special effects look promising.

But Murhpy gives a totally generic performance. Any sitcom actor could have done it...there is virtually no "Murphy" on display. The movie spends a great deal of time early-on letting us know what a hard-worker Murphy is and how he never spends time with his family. WOW...I've never seen that character trait in a movie before! And we're told this about Murphy so that later in the movie...NOTHING. No reason for it...just fills time early on.

The movie is set, supposedly, in Louisiana, but there is absolutely NOTHING in the feel of the movie that makes it feel anything other than California suburbs. And the "ghostly owner" of the house is British...kinda. There isn't a smattering of cajun to be found and enjoyed anywhere.

In fact, I would say everyone in the film comes of as generic, except Terence Stamp, who plays the "butler" of the mansion. His voice and physical manner are best two gags in the movie. I hope he got a big paycheck...this fine actor deserves it.

The laughs are few and far between in this noisy movie. The scares are not to be found anywhere, even for a young child. There is also one moment of absolutely gratuitous nudity (granted...it's on a tarot card, but it IS full frontal) that totally takes the adult viewer out of the movie. Suddenly, my wife and I are sitting there thinking..."didn't they know this was a kids movie?" The moment is brief, but you shouldn't get jarred out of a movie for so stupid a reason. It's almost like having someone drop the "f-bomb" during a PG rated movie...sticks out like a sore thumb.

There are some amusing nods to the original ride...including the barbershop singing busts. They made me laugh. That was about it for any genuine humor...that, and Terence Stamps delightfully droll performance. But that absolutely does NOT make this movie worth seeing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: another fun ride base movie.
Review: In a nutshell . This is Disney's latest instalment of theme park rides - not as entertaining as Pirates(too me anyway),But using star power of Eddie Murphy(as owner of a relator company) Disney once again succeeds in bring a ride's sets too the big screen.
In a nut shell :This kid freindly haunted house movie features the Ever's Family,who are invited to a strange old expensive house.The assumed reason is too put it up for sale,but there are more sinster adjenders lurking in the shadows.With the coming of a sudden storm -the detour too a family vaction becomes a rather comical forced overnight stay for the Evers. Join the fun in this 3.5 star movie as we learn all about the Haunted Mansion's -residence ,curses , and surprises.
FX- is very good.If your familar with the ride you may just say"I remember that room."
One part I found rather amusing is the stone head quartet.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: I really don't see why this movie recieves so much slack. I thought it was excellent. Yes, Murphy isn't all that good, but Stamp and Tilly shine. Wallace Shawn is probably the highlight in the fact that he doesn't act like anyone but Wallace Shawn. He's hilarious. The really good thing is the singing busts, I laughed my head off. (Perhaps they want a fifth?) Good job.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Promise Unfilled.
Review: THE HAUNTED MANSION, like the far-superior PIRATES OF THE CARRIBBEAN, is based upon one of Disney's amusement park rides. Now, I'm not sure how good a story can be written, let alone how good of a movie can be made, based upon an amusement park ride. Still, it's a brilliant stroke of marketing genius because Disney owns everything about the movie, including the idea that is was originally based upon.

Anyway, THE HAUNTED MANSION stars Eddie Murphy as a real estate agent, Jim Evers, who is caught up in his career. His wife is also his partner in their business, but she has her priorities in order. While on the way for a family vacation, Evers takes a side stop to check out a mansion the owner wants to sell. The stop was only supposed to last twenty mintues, but ends up taking the whole night and leads Evers and his family to go through all sorts of horrors to escape.

THE HAUNTED MANSION is kind of a cute movie and children will probably enjoy it most, even if they do get a tad frightened. The movie could have been much better, but unlike the characters in PIRATES OF THE CARRIBBEAN, the characters weren't allowed to develop into anything more than what they are on the ride (perhaps with the exception of Leona, the talking head in a glass ball). Therefore, though THE HAUNTED MANSION isn't a great movie, it is a decent one and since it feels so much like a ride, you won't feel cheated for having watched it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Entertainment, But NOT For Small Children
Review: I found this movie very enjoyable with a nice combination of comedy and suspenseful "horror." This is not a bloody movie, but does have a lot of shocking starts. Within the first five minutes the movie shows: 1. A tarot card with a naked man and woman (on the level of the statue David). 2. It also shows a man hanging by the neck dead. (Not an animation, but an actual person.) 3. It has a startling beginning that would bother *anybody* that doesn't like it when things jump out of nowhere without warning.

I enjoyed the movie thoroughly, but my 10-year old daughter probably wouldn't have been able to stomach all of the "surprises." The special effects were excellent, and the comedy is vintage Eddie Murphy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Shallow, dull, joyless Hollywood "product"
Review: Starring the long since defanged and neutered Eddie Murphy (long gone are the days when this contemporary trickster god entertained with his razor sharp impressions and randy deconstructions of American culture), THE HAUNTED MANSION is nothing more than a flaccid, shallow, joyless and obvious attempt to sell more amusement park tickets.

Unlike the similarly focused and vastly superior PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN, HAUNTED MANSION hobbles its potentially gifted cast in a graveyard of moribound cliches, tired one-liners and zombie-like performances from able bodied professionals (Terrance Stamp, Wallace Shawn, Murphy). Much of PIRATES' charm lay in its willingness to let its cast chew scenery and delight in over-the-top performances.

Despite a fine moral- Dads must devote more time to family than career- THE HAUNTED MANSION languishes on screen for what seems like an eternity. Such a film should deliver a rollercoaster array of thrills, suprises, and gasps of wonder- a reaction that an amusement park ride inspires. Hmmmm great idea.

Skip this and purchase and savor PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN instead.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What were they thinking?
Review: A total waste of time. Eddie Murphy seemed to sleep-walk his way through this one. Neither funny nor scary, I only wish I could get back the 1 1/2 hours of my life wasted on this dud.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun
Review: The critics almost kept us away from this one. I am so glad they didn't succeed. We loved this movie. This is a movie that entertains and makes you giggle... and sometimes makes you jump. It holds true to Disney's Haunted Mansion theme and gives you a story behind that spooky castle ride. While it is not as spectacular as "The Pirates of the Carribean", it entertains and amuses and was suitable for our whole family. I would not recommend it for children under 6 years of age, unless they absolutely like to be spooked...there were a few scary spots for little ones.
Thank you Eddie Murphy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEST DISNEY MOVIE OF ALL TIME(Great and just like ride)
Review: This is a great movie an NO I am not making this up. This movie is just like the ride and is Scary/Funny and Eddie Murphy is the one that made it the BEST disney movie fo all time! Do NOT judge this movie because it is a DISNEY movie because if you think that this is a bad movie just by looking at the t.v. preveiw then you are so WRONG. All I have to say is that you just HAVE to see this movie (just watch it PLEASE!)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "I See Dead People" 3
Review: THE HAUNTED MANSION is the latest film I've seen where ordinary folks see dead people. The last was GOTHIKA. The original was, of course, SIXTH SENSE. It's evidently an inconvenient talent. (A very clever knock-off of the theme was THE OTHERS of a couple years ago starring Nicole Kidman. Its subtitle could have been, "I see live people.")

Eddie Murphy and Marsha Thomason are Jim and Sara Evers, a high-powered husband and wife realtor team. Sara is invited by Mr. Gracey (Nathaniel Parker) to visit his home for the purpose of listing the property. On the way out of town for the weekend, the entire Evers family, which includes son Michael (Marc Jefferies) and daughter Megan (Aree Davis), stop by the Gracey place, which proves to be a gothic, ante-bellum mansion back in the Louisiana bayous. There's a creepy cemetery stretching to the horizon out back. They're greeted by the sinister butler Ramsley (Terence Stamp). A convenient downpour closes the road, and the Evers must stay the weekend. Serious bummer for them as Master Gracey covets Sara's bod (in a G-rated sort of way).

Is this a scary movie? It provided a couple of frissons. Children may find it more frightening.

Is it amusing? Reasonably so. Eddie Murphy's humor is the constant which holds it all together. And there are a couple more chuckles coming from un-dead housemaid Emma (Dina Waters), who makes cookies, and the disembodied head of gypsy fortune-teller Madame Leota (Jennifer Tilly), who inhabits a large crystal ball.

The special effects are more or less up to the current standard, which makes them at least good overall. I particularly liked the household spirits, which morph in and out of a swirling ectoplasmic smoke that was quite well done.

The acting is, for the most part, adequate. Young Davis as the unflappable Megan occasionally steals the show and was my favorite player. Stamp tries so hard to make Ramsley ominous that he just comes across as wooden. Thomason is wholesomely pretty, but not much else.

Is this a great film? Not by a long shot. Is it even memorable? Nah. The plot is contrived and silly. But you won't feel cheated if you see it even at today's extortionate prices. And the kids will probably enjoy the hell out of it.


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