Haunted Mansion

An appropriate number for this movie, huh? I went into this with a great deal of reservations, but I came out having had a great time. I think Disney struck a better balance between the spooky and the funny here than they did with the 2003 version. Disney Parks fans are going to LOVE the details here. The score was delightful with the recurring attraction motif throughout. I think it’s an odd choice to release this one in July, but they did it with Hocus Pocus in 1993, and look at that now (though Hocus Pocus is arguably a better movie). This gets a thumbs up from me (but keep in mind, I am a HUGE Disney fan, so your mileage may vary).

Hits as a comedy with lighthearted spooky elements. Not scary but not quite kid friendly and mostly because it isn't entertaining enough to captivate. Something similar but better would be last year's *The Curse of Hollow Bridge*. Except for some lines of dialogue from Tiffany Haddish, the comedy is incredibly flat. The emotions are crocodile tears and the acting is rough. The mystery never really hooked me. Tedious story. Bloated runtime doesn't help. I enjoyed the sets, the spooky atmosphere and it's always dark but there's always Halloween colors in the background (orange, purple, green). The CGI for the ghosts is fine, they go for a *Casper*-ish look so it doesn't need to look that good but anything else looks bad. They used CGI for too many things, including a cat walking around...