By Gary

Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride might be a hit with visitors but the film fails to deliver on its potential.

A single parent Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) hires a tour guide (LaKeith Stanfield), a psychic (Tiffany Haddish), a priest (Owen Wilson) and a historian (Danny DeVito) to help exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts.

Haunted Mansion is a fun blend of horror and comedy with a great cast and a story that’ll be extra entertaining for fans of the ride that inspired it.

While the premise, based on the Disneyland ride, initially promises an intriguing haunted-house experience, the execution feels more like a theme park attraction than a compelling movie.

Drawing inspiration from both the Disneyland ride and a previous Eddie Murphy film based on the same theme, the film struggles to find its own identity, lacking originality and depth.

In contrast, the park’s Gothic-lite attraction maintains a throwback charm with its old-school animatronics, smoke-and-mirrors tricks, and black humour.

Rather than adding some kind of lore to the Disney ride, the movie opts for superficial references and Easter eggs.

This film fell short of my expectations, simply because it is so generic and derivative that it fails to offer the viewer anything new.

It’s not simply that Haunted Mansion might be too scary for younger kids and too juvenile for older kids, as that would not be a problem if the movie was good or interesting, it’s just that this film overall isn’t very good or interesting, period.

There’s no distinct style or vision here. It is like store-brand vanilla ice cream.

There isn’t even anything particularly wrong with it, it’s just so bland that it’s not going to be remembered for anything at all.

My Rating: 6/10