Review of The Haunted Mansion (2003) by Tyler P — 07 Aug 2014

A storm has flooded the road. There will be no leaving the mansion tonight.

Jim Evers is a workaholic realtor who has a wife as a business partner, Sarah. He is challenged to sell a house that would land him and his family quite a booty. He takes his entire family, Sarah plus his two kids, to the mansion to check it out. Of course he gets stuck there and later discovers it is haunted. He will need to improve his family dynamic so they can work together and survive this disaster.

"You gotta whack the spider!!!".

Rob Minkoff, director of The Lion King, Stuart Little 1 & 2, The Forbidden Kingdom, Fly Paper, Peabody & Sherman, and the upcoming Chinese Odyssey, delivers The Haunted Mansion. The storyline for this picture is pretty flimsy and predictable and reminded me of a Daddy's Daycare (or Are We There Yet?). The acting is as you'd expect for the genre and the cast includes Eddie Murphy, Marsha Thomason, Dina Waters, Terence Stamp, Aree Davis, Jennifer Tilly, Nathaniel Parker, and Deep Roy.

"You said it was a dead language!".

"You see how wrong I was about that?!?!".

My daughter and I caught this tonight on Netflix. I kind of feel like saying this is bad is piling on at this point. It is a pretty straightforward, cheesy, children's picture (and that's coming from someone who enjoyed Smurfs 1 & 2). This didn't keep my daughter's attention at all (5 1/2). Overall, this is a below average children's picture you should skip.

"This is for me!".

Grade: F.