The Haunted Mansion: Critic Reviews

The Haunted Mansion is tame and witless enough to make me long for the ancient, dusty fright kitsch of The Munsters.

The film equivalent of the dark, boring period on a haunted house ride before the gondola crashes into another room filled with dirty mirrors.

The movie's horror angle also reminds us of Vampire in Brooklyn, the last in a string of Murphy flops before The Nutty Professor saved his screen career in 1996. With this listless foray, Eddie is twice bitten.

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.

The point of Haunted Mansion is for audiences to sit back and enjoy the ride, which is easy to do thanks to an engaging story, the striking, Gothic-inspired set by Oscar-winner John Myhre and some delightful special effects.

An efficient, reasonably enjoyable factory product that should scare a 9-year-old just enough and be gone from his or her memory by dinnertime.

Rob Minkoff has directed a movie that's nearly laughless and nowhere near as frightening as what's happened to Eddie Murphy's career.

The PG rating is purportedly for 'frightening images,' but the only thing frightening is the bland performance Eddie Murphy phones in.

The Haunted Mansion is one of the longest 90 minutes you'll ever encounter.

The Haunted Mansion is cheesy fun.

The Haunted Mansion won't much entertain older family members, but it might be fun for kids and seems headed for a long run on home video.

While the addition of four harmonizing statues infuses some humor in the script, there's little that outshines effects in the actual Disneyland house.

Vivid and unimaginative.

Amusing but not side-splitting.

The Haunted Mansion is likely the exact movie Disney wanted. Why they, or anyone else, would want it is another question.

More Disneyland ride than movie, short on plot and long on dazzling visuals for the kiddies.

Contempo Hollywood may be awash in brilliant technicians and craftspeople but it also needs good storytellers, who aren't to be found in The Haunted Mansion.

The advertising slogan for The Haunted Mansion warns, 'Check your pulse at the door' -- pretty cheeky for a movie that flatlines for almost all of its 98 minutes.

The Haunted Mansion is disappointing in just about every way. Even the plot, which seems simple enough at first, turns out to be confusing when all is revealed.

The story is so flimsy, could it possibly have been ghostwritten by Goofy?

Foolish indeed is the mortal family that shells out the copious price of admission for this gobbler.

This is a 99-minute commercial for a three-minute attraction.

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

More creepy than scary, but it's lots of fun.