No assembly RequireD

Welcome foolish mortals to the review of the latest film from the Disney studios. A film that will surprise you with its charm and mature themes of grief and life after death. I am your host, your ghost host, and this host is happy to say that while not everything in this movie will follow you home there is plenty to enjoy that will make you want to return. This movie may have 999 haunts but there’s room for one more and you will be happy to join in.

Life no longer has excitement for former astrophysicist Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield). A New Orleans resident stricken with grief after the passing of his beloved wife, Alyssa (Charity Jordan). He now spends his days giving historical walking tours to tourists who just want to her ghost stories even with Ben’s constant reminder that there is nothing beyond and no point to any of this. Stumbling home each night Ben has put away his invention of a camera that may be able to capture spirits and has settled for a life waiting for the end. That is until a rather eccentric priest Father Kent (Owen Wilson full of one liner charm) tells him that he can be a hero. He has been hired to clean out a haunted house now owned by a mother and her young son. Father Kent has heard of Ben’s invention and believes Ben can be a true hero for this family. The family in trouble is strong willed Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her nervous nine year old son Travis (Chase Dillon). Gabbie and Travis play it smart by leaving their mansion once furniture starts moving and a displayed Knight starts chasing them, but with a humorous reference to the ride we soon learn that the ghost follow you home and there is no escaping the mansion. With his apprehension it isn’t long before Ben realizes there is some evil presence in the house and he and Kent round up a peculiar team to help them. If there is one thing HAUNTED MANSION does best it is their casting of their ghost hunters. Added to the group is Danny DeVito as Professor Bruce Davis and Tiffany Haddish as Harriet a medium. The casting of the film may appear as typical Disney stunt casting, but theses actors, especially DeVito, ham it up when needed while still bringing a sense of curiosity and pain to the role.

While the film is clearly banking on nostalgia for the classic Disneyland and Disney World ride, the film’s implementation of amusement park decor is welcomed as it feels done out of respect and not a gimmick. Every inch of set design is a familiar face but when done in every frame it allows the film to acknowledge to the audience it knows what you want, but with the sense of now that you’re settled we can enjoy an actual story. As the group begins to unravel the mystery of the mansion they stumble upon a brutal history of grief and violence all centered around a malevolent spirit they deem the Hatbox Ghost (Jared Leto). While this will make fans squeal with excitement to see the iconic animatronic character be a main focus the film does a better job using it as a representation of the never ending grief trapped in this house. With a script by Katie Dippold the film brings in a mature look at grief and how it has affected several of our characters. LaKeith Stanfield is already an established actor and one of the best of his generation. Here he carries much of the film’s weight showing that learning to heal from grief is not always the right choice. Sometimes we do need to harbor that pain and allow ourselves to fully understand what we feel. This is also seen in Travis who finds his time in life far more painful than he believes he’d feel in death. It is reminiscent of a time when Disney movies actually seemed to take on bigger themes with actual respect.

It is this respect for grief that makes some of the lesser moments of HAUNTED MANSION all the more obnoxious. There is still a stronghold of Disney executives on this film involving heavy moments being immediately followed up by cheap unfunny jokes as well as a poor pacing that chooses to fit in more time antics that go nowhere instead of its already established heart of the story. HAUNTED MANSION wants us to feel Ben’s pain for missing his wife and while the scenes we do get with Alyssa are heartwarming they are so limited that you can’t help but feel this is yet another film following the dead wife trope footsteps.

If HAUNTED MANSION is about death then it is also about what we can do before all that in life. Setting the film in New Orleans and respecting its city allows the film to blend the notion that life and death do not have to be separate. They can be celebrated together if we have the right people. A found family film HAUNTED MANSION’s cast are all lost souls in need of love and support. Haddish while carrying her often unfunny quick remarks is still able to bring a since story of what happens when gifted people are ridiculed their entire lives and the repression that happens. DeVito while delivering some of the film’s funniest moments still shows what happens to many of our older generations when forgotten by their friends and family. Not everything is delivered to its fullest but in a time when Disney films seem to have all forgotten that emotional spark that allowed them to shine past other family films, it is nice to see a crew of characters that are impossible not to fall for.

HAUNTED MANSION may not fall into the realm of classic Disney winners, that seems to be an era long gone, but here is a film that doesn’t stop trying. It doesn’t overreach or belittle allowing the film and all its inhabited spirits to find a place of comfort. HAUNTED MANSION might not reach the pure enjoyment once gets from sitting in doom buggy in an amusement park, but it is a ride you’ll want to return to again. After all that may be the only way to get rid of those hitchhiking ghosts. 

B+

HAUNTED MANSION IS IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE