National Cinema Day! This was the first of three movies I saw on National Cinema Day! I did a marathon like this last year ad had a blast. I viewed this movie by myself but had a partner for the other two movies I saw. The Haunted Mansion had mixed reviews, so I was skeptical that it would be any good. I was pleasantly surprised, though. It was very entertaining.
The film stars LaKeith Stanfield as the main character, Tiffany Haddish as a medium, Owen Wilson as the fake priest, Danny DeVito as a historian, Rosario Dawson as the new owner of the mansion, Jamie Lee Curtis as the medium in the crystal ball and Jared Leto. The screenplay was written by Katie Dippold who is known for writing the most recent Ghostbusters sequel, The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy and assisted with writing Parks and Recreation on NBC. The film was directed by Justin Simeon. Walt Disney Studios distributed the film.
The story begins in New Orleans with the main character, Ben, and how he and his wife fall in love, but she has a tragic accident and dies. He lost all hope in life and hit rock bottom. He was an astrophysicist and his wife was a tour guide for haunted places in New Orleans. Ben had invented a special camera that photographed dark matter. to set up the plot further, the other main character, Gabbie, and her son move from NYC to a mansion in New Orleans. Her plan is to turn the mansion into a bed and breakfast. It doesn’t take them long to realize that the mansion is extremely haunted and they try to leave. Next, Ben is visited by a priest who wants him to come out to the mansion to capture the spirits on film using his camera. Ben agreed halfheartedly after payment was discussed. Ben arrives at the mansion and meets Gabbie and her son. The priest is also there to greet him. Ben takes some pictures and goes home. He soon realizes that he was followed home by a ghost and captures this ghost on film. He returns to the mansion to find out what is up with that. Gabby and the priest tell him that they also tried to leave the mansion and were followed home by ghosts. They recruit a medium to come to the mansion and also procure a blueprint of the mansion from a historian, who also ends up at the mansion. The rest of the film continues with the group and how they try to figure out what happened there and why there are so many supernatural apparitions in the mansion.
This film is based on the Haunted Mansion attractions at the Disney theme parks. If you have visited both theme parks in California and Florida, you know the facades of these attractions are different. The mansion in the film looks more like the mansion at the California park, but viewers can also see elements of the Florida mansion as well. The movie is peppered with elements from the ride, such as the chairs riders sit in during the ride and all the creepy paintings on the walls, Many of these integrations are subtle and clever.
Guillermo del Torro Wrote and produced the film for Walt Disney. The film is rated PG-13 most likely because younger children might be frightened by the ghostly figures. In 2013, del Torro removed himself from the project but agreed to remain on board as co-writer. In 2016, D.V. DeVintus was hired to rewrite the script and Brigham Taylor was signed on as producer. At first, Ryan Gosling was considered to star in the film. in 2020, but that did not happen, the screenplay was once again rewritten by Katie Dippold to tone down the scariness. Jonathan Eirich and Dan Lin were hired on as producers. By 2021, Justin Simien was hired as director. The film was released on July 15, 2023, but as an interesting bit of trivia, the cast could not attend the premier because of the SAG-AFTRA strike; instead, Disney characters, such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, etc., attended in their place.
The critics were not totally enthusiastic about this movie, but I thought it was entertaining enough. Now that The Haunted Mansion has left the theaters, it is now in the streaming world. It is definitely worth a viewing. It would especially be a good one to watch on Halloween night as an extra treat for the kiddos. I suggest that parents make a judgment about allowing younger kiddos to watch it due to some of the “scary” characters. I will give it a 3 out of 5 stars.
