Review of The Haunted Mansion (2003) by Cynthia S — 03 Jul 2009

"Angels in Heaven, together at last. The tale is well ended for those who have passed. Love endures all, no reason, no rhyme. It lasts forever and forever all the time." - Madame Leota.

In 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, based on a Disney theme park ride, turned out to be a big hit. So, a follow-up soon came, another movie based on a Disney ride. This movie was The Haunted Mansion, which flopped. As a comedy, this movie is definitely a failure. There is some mildly amusing scenes, but not too many and certainly nothing hilarious. For the most part, it's very straight-faced, at least for adults, no doubt about that. It seems Madame Leota is supposed to a very humorous character, but that doesn't work out. There's also some pretty poor dialogue at times, such as, "Well, some people have swimming pools, others have private cemeteries." It can happen, which is another thing that makes the movie lose points. However, later on in the movie, there is quite a bit of suspense. The movie certainly doesn't have the most original premise, but that doesn't mean it can't be entertaining. The Haunted Mansion is generally thought of as a bad movie, it seems, and when movies are as poorly received as this.