"It's neither as clever nor as campy as the attraction it's based on, but it's a suitable representation of its, er, spirit." Eric D Snider ERICDSNIDER.COM "More Disneyland ride than movie, short on plot and long on dazzling visuals for the kiddies." Bill Muller ARIZONA REPUBLIC "If you are a fan of special effects you might find it worth spending the money, but if you want some good plotting with your pretty pictures don't bother." Staci Layne Wilson, HORROR.COM "Never manages to rise above kind of cute." Steve Rhodes STEVE RHODES' INTERNET REVIEWS "Amusing time-killer." Glenn Lovell SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

"Little wonder Disney is in trouble. If they keep churning out crap like this with losers like Eddie Murphy in the lead role - well - they deserve what they get. Or hasn't Disney heard the phrase; "you reap what you sow"!" Marty King THE MOIVIE PAGES "It's perfectly palatable family fare for a long weekend when it's hard to find movies at the neighborhood 'plex that will please everyone." Ann Hornaday WASHINGTON POST "It's not all that boring, and very little children will like it, but the 'tween crowd will consider this beneath them, as would everyone older." Eric Lurio GREENWICH VILLAGE GAZETTE "The Haunted Mansion is well made and acted with a kind of campy glee, but it doesn't scare up enough thrills or laughs to give it the kind of mass appeal of Disney's summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean." Louis B Hobson JAM! MOVIES

At A Glance

"You don't go to a movie like this for the sparkling repartee; you go to ride the ride one more time, and director Rob Minkoff delivers with a slew of sight gags and character cameos that will keep faith with the fans." .... Steve Schneider ORLANDO WEEKLY

There is one hell of a big obstacle one has to get over to enjoy "The Haunted Mansion" and that is the very annoying, grating, toothy, smiling, face of Eddie Murphy. Why for the life of me would Disney sign him for the lead in "The Haunted House"? That is the big question on everyones lips. Murphy hasn't had [with the passable exception of "Daddy Day Care"] a really successful role in a film for years. It's true to say that since the days of "Bowfinger", where he played the dual roles of Kit Ramsey and Jiffernson 'Jiff' Ramsey, it's all been downhill for the star whose career started out in the 1982 film "48 Hrs" and really took off with "Beverly Hills Cop" in 1984. By the time "Beverly Hills Cop III" had hit the screens, many cinema-goers had grown tired of Murphy and rightly so. Each film was turning out to be a dose of the same old Murphy. The same loud voice. The same toothy smile. It was really wearing thin. It wasn't that the premise for each film was bad, it wasn't that the support cast was crap and it wasn't that most of his films provided reasonable value, it was just the Eddie Murphy factor. Perhaps it's time Eddie Murphy considered limiting his career to voice characters or those where he is heavily disguised, as in "The Nutty Professor" or "The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps", the latter of which went into Murphy overkill but at least managed to raise a heck of a lot of laughs. A lot more laughs than his big disaster "The Adventures of Pluto Nash", which was a shocker. So what is good about "The Haunted Mansion"?
Well even though I'm sure I've seen the storyline somewhere before [yes, I have folks] the basic plot is reasonable enough. It's not going to scare the pants off you and it won't have the kids wetting the bed or frightening the crap out of you in the middle of the night with nightmare syndrome [although I can imagine some of the little tackers seeing big white teeth in a darkened corner of their rooom] as their little high pitched screams pierce the night air. No, this is just a wee bit scarey. Even the zombies aren't all that freaky. Gee, I've seen freakier freaks down at the local shopping mall! At least the zombies in "The Haunted Mansion" disappear by films end. As for that storyline? Well there's a lot packed into it. Don Hahn, producer of "The Haunted Mansion", "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" explains, "It's a very interesting combination. It's a little comedy, a little love story, a little scary, a little bit of a murder mystery, all hung on a very strong fairy tale spine," adding, "with zombies." So how does director Rob Minkoff see it?
"This is a story of romance, and mystery, and comedy," Rob Minkoff says. "And ghosts – nine hundred ninety-nine of them. But there's room for one more!" The successful Disney director who helmed such winners as "The Lion King" and both "Stuart Little" films elaborated further. "As well as the haunted house aspect, there is a fairy tale aspect to the story, a Romeo and Juliet angle," Minkoff said. "It also has the comic elements of the ghosts and Madame Leota, and the adventure and scares that you have out in the mausoleum and the cemetery. It's fun to draw from all these different sources and genres and combine them into something new and different that we haven't seen before." So where did the inspiration and the story for "The Haunted Mansion" come from? Of all things, a theme park ride.
"I grew up near Disneyland Park and The Haunted Mansion was one of my favorite rides," Don Hahn said. "I can vividly remember before the attraction opened, there was a long period of time when the outside was done but the inside wasn't, so the gates weren't open yet. I couldn't wait for the day when you could run through those gates and see what the heck was inside. It made a huge impression on me." But he wasn't the only fan of the ride it turns out. "I was already a huge fan of the attraction," confesses director Minkoff. "Many times I was on the ride that I felt it would be a really cool movie. Getting this chance was a great opportunity to realize that, plus I knew it would be absolutely terrific to work with Don again." And many of the things that made the ride attractive were they incorprated into the film? "There were certain things from the attraction that we knew had to be in there," says Hahn, "iconic things that you want to pay homage to in the movie, like the ballroom dancers, a corridor of doors, or the stretching room. Many of the characters you're familiar with from the cemetery make cameo appearances. I think the audience will really appreciate that level of detail." "What nobody realizes about the rides at Disneyland is how thorough the Imagineers were," says producer Andrew Gunn. "They didn't just design a ride; they wrote a ten-page story about the house, who Master Gracey was, what happened at this house, everything. They created the groundwork and the foundation for the movie. This movie is a logical extension of all the work they did. We wanted to do a scary, but funny movie. We felt there had been a lot of straight scary movies lately, really scary movies, but not one that made you jump and also made you laugh. Well not for a while." And the sets do look great as do the costumes too.
That's thanks to production designer John Myhre whose credits include "Elizabeth", "Chicago" and box-office blockbuster "X-Men. "I've been a fan of the Haunted Mansion since I was a little kid," he says. John Myhre explained that he "and his crew built an imposing structure, which stood close to forty-one feet tall and comprised roughly half the house at 130 feet. The rest of the mansion's upper floors, another forty feet's worth including its signature cupola, were created digitally in post-production by the team headed by Visual Effects Supervisor Jay Redd. And the period costumes? Well it seems costume designer Mona May had already worked with phantoms. Well in a sense. You see she worked with Rob Minkoff on "Stuart Little II". "I dressed the mouse," Mona recalls, "and that was an interesting prelude to this film because the mouse doesn't really exist. It's only a digital character. So already I was familiar with designing for a phantom." Besides everything else, there's an abundance of great special effects in "The Haunted House". From Madame Leota to all forms of spooks etc but none better than the zombies. The credit for these goes to Rick Baker whose stunning work can be seen in the films; "Planet of the Apes", "Star Wars," "Men in Black" and the film which won him an Academy Award® , "An American Werewolf in London".
Finally, if you're afraid of spiders you'll get a few frights in the film. Thats because they used 150 live, pink-toed tarantulas from Guyana, South America. "They're one of the few spiders that doesn't try to kill and eat other spiders, which because we have a big group of them in this shot is an important thing. And you can put them on actors and they don't bite," says spider wrangler Jim Brockett. "They're very gentle," he says with a smile on his face. In the wash-up "The Haunted Mansion" is reasonable fare, but see it on the big screen. Cast & Crew Bytes "The Haunted Mansion" was directed by Rob Minkoff ["Tummy Trouble", "The Lion King" and "Stuart Little I & II"], written by David Berenbaum ["Elf"], special make-up effects by Rick Baker ["An American Werewolf In London", "The Nutty Professor", "Mighty Joe Young", "Planet of the Apes" and "The Ring"], with original music by Mark Mancina ["Speed", "Bad Boys", "The Money Train", "Training Day" and "Brother Bear"], the sets were designed by Rosemary Brandenburg ["Desert Hearts", "Blaze", "Outbreak", "The Peacemaker", "What Women Want" and "The Ring"] while the costumes were designed by Mona May ["3 Ninja's", "Clueless", "The Wedding Singer", "Never Been Kissed", "Loser" and "The Master of Disguise"].
"The Haunted Mansion" stars Eddie Murphy ["48 Hrs", "Trading Places", "Bowfinger" and "Daddy Day Care"], Marsha Thomason ["Priest", "Black Knight", "Long Time Dead" and "Tug of War"], Nathaniel Parker ["War Requiem", "Hamlet", "Beverly Hills Ninja" and "All Forgotten"], Jennifer Tilly ["No Small Affair", "Fabulous Baker Boys", "Liar Liar", "The Cats Meow" and "El Padrino"], Wallace Shawn ["Manhattan", "A Little Sex", "Radio Days", "Nice Girls Don't Explode" and "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion"], Dina Waters ["Big NIght", "Striptease", The First Wives Club", "John Q" and "Full Frontal"], Marc John Jefferies ["Losing Isaiah", "Brown Sugar" and "Charlies Angels: Full Throttle"], Aree Davis ["The Haunted Mansion"], and Terence Stamp ["Billy Budd", "The Collector", "Meetings with Remarkable Men", "The Limey", "Bowfinger" and "Full Frontal"] as Ramsley the butler. The Story

"A pleasant and atmospheric family romp, offering enough mildly chilling thrills to keep everyone entertained during its brief running time." Sheri Linden HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Jim and Sara Evers are making a real name for themselves in the real estate industry. But Jim's enthusiasm for closing a deal is starting to affect their family life. Sara finally ties him down for a weekend of quality time together. But then Sara gets a call to appraise a 19th century mansion for its owner Edward Gracey. Jim, ever the salesman can see a big buck in this property and even though the owner only wants Sara to handle the property Jim muscles in. Unfortunately, the run down mansion, complete with its own graveyard and a spooky, pale looking butler named Ramsley isn't all it appears. As the Evers family is about to find out. You see everyone in the house is dead. They are all ghosts and as Sara will soon discover, she isn't wanted for her real estate expertise alone. Sara has a connection to the mansions tragic past. The Verdict "When you've seen everything else, head for "The Haunted Mansion" while it's still on the big screen, and the bigger the screen the better. May not be the most mindboggling experience you'll have at the megaplex but there's enough in it to justify a look. Reasonable fare for the family." The Cast

Eddie Murphy Terence Stamp Nathaniel Parker Marsha Thomason Jennifer Tilly Wallace Shawn Dina Waters Marc John Jefferies Aree Davis Jim Doughan Rachel Harris Steve Hytner Heather Juergensen Jeremy Howard Deep Roy Clay Martinez Bridget Brno Gregg London Zach Minkoff

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Jim Evers Ramsley Master Gracey Sara Evers Madame Leota Ezra Emma Michael Megan Mr Coleman Mrs Coleman Mr Silverman Mrs Silverman Hitchhiking Ghost Hitchhiking Ghost Hitchhiking Ghost Tiki Lounge Customer Tiki Lounge Customer Boy on Bicycle

The Crew Directed by Rob Minkoff Written by David Berenbaum Produced by Andrew Gunn & Don Hahn Original Music by Mark Mancina Director of Cinematography Remi Adefarasin Film Editing by Priscilla Nedd-Friendly Casting by Jennifer Alessi & Marcia Ross Production Design by John Myhre Art Direction by Beat Frutiger & Tomas Voth Set Decoration by Rosemary Brandenburg Costume Design by Mona May Special Makeup Effects Artist Rick Baker Run Time 88 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2004 - Buena Vista International - All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2004 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved