Haunted Mansion is a new movie based on the beloved Disney ride of the same name. This is not a sequel to the 2003 Eddie Murphy movie.
Starring LaKeith Stanfield as Ben, a former astrophysicist who designed a camera that can capture ghosts on film. He gets in contact with Father Kent, played by Owen Wilson who tells him about a family that is being haunted and needs help. When Ben shows up to the mansion he meets Gabbie, (Rosario Dawson) and her son, Travis (Chase W. Dillon) who say they are in desperate need of help. Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis) helps the group as they try to solve the mystery of why the mansion is haunted.
They begin to recruit some additional help including Professor Bruce Davis, a historian (Danny DeVito). When people start showing up they discover that ghosts follow you home (sound familiar?) and you can’t leave, they discover old secrets and find out the clock is ticking to help this haunted house. Jared Leto plays the antagonist in the film, and the one think I would’ve liked was more of his character, just the make-up and less CGI. The CGI was great, but there’s something about real life expressions that you just can’t capture the same way.
This movie is entertaining, funny, action packed, has a few spooky moments, and overall a scary good time! I actually think this is my favorite movie I have seen this year and I can’t wait to watch it again! Disney did a great job with this movie, there are so many call backs to the ride and I think Haunted Mansion fans will be really happy with this iteration.
HAUNTED MANSION is in theaters nationwide July 28th, 2023.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Ashley Kethley (Contributing Editor) is a frequent traveler currently living in San Diego. She's a super nerd who enjoys all kinds of movies and doesn't always think the book was better. Click Here to check out Ashley's Articles.