Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: It seemed a clever idea for Disney to turn its non-film-based attractions into movies. While the Country Bear Jamboree was a dud, Pirates of the Caribbean was a delight. Like the film that materialized from the former, The Haunted Mansion is a meagre fantasy that will undoubtedly be forgotten and turn to dust.Eddie Murphy plays real estate agent Jim Evers, who neglects his familial duties to close deals. During a family outing with his wife Sara (Marsha Thomason), timid son, and no-nonsense daughter, Evers stops to have a look at a "historical sprawling manor with spacious grounds" that he hopes to represent. When it begins to rain, they are invited to spend the night by its owner Gracey (Nathaniel Parker) and manservant Ramsley (Terence Stamp). It comes as no surprise that the occupants turn out to be ghosts, and even a headless corpse can figure out that Sara was lured to the mansion because she resembles Gracey's lost love. In keeping with the ride at Disneyland/world, The Haunted Mansion is not intended to be scary but more like a fun-house, and includes familiar images from the attraction such as singing busts, waltzing apparitions, and the crystal ball-encapsulated gypsy seer (Meg Tilly). Directed by Rob Minkoff (Stuart Little), the story is slow to evolve and lacks tension or surprise. Most of this is due to a predictable script that doesn't offer a single original plot development. And the film can hardly be considered a comedy because there's nothing funny; even the line "I see dead people" falls flat, when delivered matter-of-factly by the smug son. Although the art direction is superb, the audience barely gets to see the eerie Louisiana bayou, elaborate interiors, and shimmering ghosts. Instead, we are treated to the stares of bug-eyed Murphy and expressionless Stamp. Being in purgatory would be far more entertaining. Rating: 4 out of 10.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good movie, but not Eddie Murphy's best.
Review: I personally enjoyed Haunted Mansion and thought it wa very good. My kids beg to differ. They loved it. Eddie Murphy plays Jerry, a workaholic real estate agent who interrupts his family's vacation to check out a remote mansion that's for sale. But soon he and his family are trapped in the haunted house and are screaming for their lives. [...]
Rating: 
Summary: Where do I begin...
Review: Remember this movie people...For it marks the final nail in the coffin of Eddie Murphy's once proud career. A career which saw him fall from the heights of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop to the lowly depths of the done-to-death workaholic father, Jim Evers.
I can honestly say without a hint of exaggeration that this is by a sizable margin, the worst film I have ever seen in my life.
The fact that this drivel was aimed at children is of no consequence, it should never have been allowed to come into existence. I can only imagine what mind bending drugs Eddy Murphy was on when he decided it would be a positive career move to appear in this poorly written, poorly directed, poorly performed cheese-fest.
The words cliché, predictable & tiresome don't even begin to describe my thoughts as I shook my head again and again at the droll that was being thrust into my brain.
Throughout the rather originally titled 'Haunted Mansion' I was quite frankly embarrassed to have sat witness to a storyline and character base so mind numbingly tragic.
It is evident that Director Rob Minkoff felt that once he had gotten Eddy Murphy to sign on the dotted line, all he had to do was churn out more tried and tested Hollywood pap and wait for payday.
Let me summarise: Workaholic and his kids arrive at a haunted house, surprisingly, some "scary" stuff happens and then everybody learns a valuable lesson... oh, and at the risk of spoiling the intricately woven plot... the Butler did it.
Everybody involved in this movie should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves... and I mean everybody.
Rating:
Summary: I want 90 minutes of my life back
Review: I'm sure I'll be vilified for this, as I was for my review of most of the Eddie Murphy movies, but here goes: "The Haunted Mansion" is the cinematic equivalent of eating a Twinkie. Sure, it may taste kind of good initially, but it leaves an aftertaste that's not quite right, and in the end you know it's done you more harm than good.
I won't summarize the plot or characters here, because the other reviewers here do that very well, and also because the plot and the characters are something you've seen a hundred times before in far better movies. Instead, I'll tell you whether I thought the movie was good or bad, and why.
If all you're looking for is a mildly pleasant, unchallenging way to kill a couple of hours, you'll love "The Haunted Mansion", or another Eddie Murphy movie (for lack of a better word) like "Shrek 2". But to me, "The Haunted Mansion" represents everything that's wrong with America today. People don't want originality, they don't want "real" humor, they don't want a movie with heart or depth, they don't want a movie that tries to say something. People want to be told what to like; cool-in-1977 characters to the painfully ankle-grabbing politically correct ending.
But the unoriginality of "The Haunted Mansion" isn't what annoys me. Most movies are derivative and unoriginal. What gets me is how smug "The Haunted Mansion" is in its trite, wannabe-cool, faux-"attitude." There isn't a single second of this movie that I haven't seen before elsewhere. To sum it up: "The Haunted Mansion" is a watched a bunch of kids' movies, chewed them all up, and spit them out once all the flavor was gone.
If you're a "Harry Potter" fan (as I am), just understand that "The Haunted Mansion" is trying to be better than the "Harry Potter" movies. I can picture right now the corporate boardroom where "The Haunted Mansion" was dreamwed up: "No no no! This needs more attitude! ATTITUDE!" "Eddie should be a surfer!" "Rasta-fy Murphy by 10 percent or so!" Don't forget to mock Disney some more!"
Clearly, if there weren't so much hype and groveling, boot-licking admiration for this tired retread of warmed-over cliches calling itself a movie, I might not despise it as I do. The one bright spot in this morass is Jennifer Tilly as Madame Leota. Tily's naturaly energy and charm make her scenes watchable; she's not dragged down by the material surrounding him.
I'm sure many of you would wanna see "Shreks 1, 3D, 2 and 3". Please don't get mad at me for telling you their plots and endings right now. I just want to tell you that amongst all Eddie Murphy movies, this one is the worst. Buy the "Shrek" movies, "Daddy Day Care" or the "Dr. Dolittle" movies, if you wanna know what's better than this if you're and Eddie Murphy fan. Don't get this movie on DVD, if you haven't seen it. IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, don't get mad at me for revealing these future plot twists. I'm sure you'll love Eddie Murphy, anyway.
Rating:
Summary: A sorry sequel to Pirates
Review: Like as not, Disney will be quite happy to let the knowledge of this movie slip quickly away into oblivion once it has raked in the profits from the DVD sales.
Yep, Haunted Mansion is a sorry sequel after the so successful and effective Pirates of the Carribean. The beginning of Mansion, though intriguing enough, never really gets rolling, and thirty minutes into the film, one finds oneself still waiting for things to begin. In lieu of fun, spooky action is a rather onerous and rather thread-bare story suffocated by its own moaning and/or existentialist elements.
Comedy, which might have raised the film out of its own limbo, isn't entirely lacking but also isn't transcendent: Consider the potential for funny as our hero, Sam Evers (Murphy), receives words of wisdom from a ghost-head suspended in a crystal ball sitting shotgun in Evers' sedan. The Disney version of comedy al Murphy, perhaps watered down for a children's audience, lacks that salt for which Murphy is so well known. Murphy acts as though someone has tied one hand, and possibly also one foot, behind his back, which makes the viewer want to cry out, "Lose the shackles and the inhibitions, man, and do what you do best, just without the expletives and the digestion jokes!"
The lovely Sara Evers, challenged - unlike the other actors - with not one, but two, hokey roles, is not quite able to fill the bill in either the 18th or the 21st centuries. Once again, the viewer is left feeling starved of the strong emotion and feeling her performance should, but does not, convey.
Strength of emotion is, however, not wanting in Nathaniel Parker's portrayal of Master Gracey, though this should not be considered an asset, by any means. Though Parker is in fact a convincing, talented actor, you wouldn't know it here, for his monotonously maudlin presence becomes increasingly stagey as the film drones on to its eye-catching, though essentially embarrassing, end.
What really breaks this film is the fact that Disney is not able to create a storyline which synthesizes the very serious themes of death, loss, and racism while looking at life through those much-loved, rose-colored Mickey-Mouse glasses. There are certainly "family entertainment films" which discuss tough subjects in a riveting, insightful way, but the Haunted Mansion is not one of them.
The upshot is a climax to the hereinafter which will definitely not leave you wanting; in fact, you won't ever want again, except perhaps to leave the theater immediately if not sooner.
If your child has difficulties with the issue of death, this is NOT the film to play at your next big Halloween party - unless of course you really want to scare your guests into thinking your head is haunted.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny
Review: Eddie is was perfect for this movie. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and it just a great family movie. It was funny and I am glad Eddie did this movie because this was a perfect role for him.
Rating:
Summary: bland, halfhearted throwaway for Murphy
Review: "The Haunted Mansion," a film "inspired" by the Disney theme-park attraction of the same name, feels like a cross between "The Haunting" and "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken." Eddie Murphy is a real estate agent working in tandem with his wife, Marsha Thomason. One day she receives a call from a mysterious stranger asking her to check out some property he wants to put up for sale. Even though the caller specifically asks that she come alone, Murphy decides to go along with her, bringing their two young children as well. When they arrive on the scene, the family finds a mansion replete with all the paraphernalia common to a conventional haunted house - sliding panels, hidden passageways, a graveyard in the backyard, an eccentric owner, a creepy butler (played with delicious relish by Terence Stamp) and, of course, a houseful of unruly and unsettled resident ghosts. Once ensconced inside, the family discovers - much like homeowners in a buyer's market - that it's always easier to get into a haunted house than it is to get out of one.
Murphy assumes the Bob Hope role of the comical skeptic who meets each and every danger with a defiant wisecrack and clever quip. Unfortunately, even Murphy, for all his talent, can't rescue material that doesn't have anything much there to begin with. The story is predictable and silly and the dialogue woefully bereft of laughs. There's also one glaring plot hole that should not go unremarked upon. Thomason is supposed to be a (pardon the pun) dead-ringer for a woman who killed herself a hundred and fifty years ago, yet there is no way that, in the context of that time, that woman could ever possibly have been black. Colorblindness is generally a good thing, but in this instance, it strikes at the very core of the story's internal credibility. The film's visual imagery does indeed derive from the Disney attraction - statues whose eyes follow people around the room, dancing transparent ghosts, singing disembodied heads - but there's a world of difference between a 5-minute amusement-park ride and an 85-minute full-length feature film. Before green-lighting the project, didn't any of the executives over at Disney ask if anyone had come up with a movie worth making? Given the results we see on screen, the answer is "apparently not."
There's no point here in launching into our perpetual lament over the downward spiral that Eddie Murphy's career continues to take. After all, if he isn't worried about the squandering of his once notable talent, why should we be? Life is just too short for that.
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