AGW Entertainment reporter Lynn B. saw a new spooky family film

The HAUNTED MANSION

Disney Pictures

Hey, just give me a pizza and a tame family adventure! Not a night of the living dead in a haunted house! That's how the kids in Disney's The Haunted Mansion movie feel.

Successful workaholic real estate salesman Jim Evers (Eddie Murphy) and his wife and business partner Sara (Marsha Thomason) get a call from mansion owner Edward Gracey (Nathaniel Parker) who wants them to sell his isolated Louisiana bayou family home. The family (with kids Megan (Aree Davis) and Michael (Marc John Jefferies)) was supposed to be off on a vacation and decide to drop by to seal the deal very briefly on their way to a lake. A big rainstorm strands the family at the creepy mansion where weird butler Ramsley (Terence Stamp) shows the Evers to their rooms.

It seems Mr. Gracey shows a romantic interest in mom Sara and the kids and dad start to unravel a murder mystery that made the house "ghost central" back in the 1800's. After facing tons of ghosts, both humorous and frightening, dad and the kids manage to rescue mom, reunite ghostly lovers and release all the spirits from an unhappy purgatory.

If you've ever visited the Haunted Mansion ride at the Disney theme parks, you'll find tons of tributes to it in this film. Gypsy fortune teller Madame Leota (Jennifer Tilly) is that weird green hologram head in a globe, the portraits that turn skeletal when you pass them are there as are the hitchhiking ghosts, the ballroom of ghostly dancers, the talking stone heads who sing barbershop, etc. and all are delightful to see on the big screen.

The basic family-in-crisis story is typical.. dad works too much and must learn to make time for his wife and kids, but there is also a haunting story about lovers separated by death etc. that isn't all that new but still works. Terrence Stamp is super creepy and funny as the weird Butler and Eddie Murphy and the Evers family of actors are all very good in their roles. I wasn't that thrilled with the idea that dad feels his arachnophobe son should learn to mash a spider to feel macho… why not just get it out of the room and set it free elsewhere?

There are a few warm laughs in the film but none is hilarious. All the humor steers away from the bathroom stuff which is refreshing. What does really work bigtime is the incredible production design, the ghosts, etc. The Disney folks have gone all out to present detailed and gorgeously creepy sets and costumes that will keep your eyes glued to the screen even if the story or dialogue doesn't.

Rated: PG

Official website