Haunted Mansion is a comedy and horror cocktail film. Packed with a group of comedic actors, it tries hard to be a Family entertainment movie and succeeds in most parts.
Interestingly, the well-known tourist attractions in two theme parks – the classic Disneyland and the iconic Disney World have inspired this particular Disney film. So, its Gracey Manor is modelled after the original Disneyland Mansion, while its Crump Manor is modelled after the Magic Kingdom’s Mansion at Walt Disney World.
Synopsis (summary) of this 2023 American film
A single mom named Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) hires a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts. It consists of a tour guide Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield), a psychic Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), a priest Father Kent (Owen Wilson) and a historian Bruce Davis ( Danny DeVito). She enlists their help to get rid of their home of supernatural squatters and to exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering ghosts inhabit it.
Review of the Haunted Mansion (2023) film
Inspiration for the Disney films
Disney was inspired by the same theme parks and released a movie titled “The Haunted Mansion” in 2003. Eddie Murphy and his on-screen family got trapped in the said mansion
Now, in 2023, with the “Haunted Mansion” film, Disney has come up with a slightly different version, a single mother Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son can’t escape from the house.
Is Haunted Mansion (2023) film better?
However, we think this 2023 film is much better than the 2003 one. The tech. driven special effects add realism to it, involving various kinds of ghosts and their rowdiness.
While watching this family film, we loved some of these hilarious comedic scenes, mind you, not all. We just wish that they could have made it much more funnier and hilarious. They had all the right ingredients – a bunch of wonderful actors in it. Still, almost all the actors played their part competently in it comedy film. We liked their funny antics in it.
Taking into account, the entire movie, we think it is a good movie for a family. Also, we liked it as it was a good time-pass film with quite a few scenes with a mix of comedy and horror.
Is the 2023 film based on real people and Disney characters?
To share bonus info., let us first let us talk about theme park inspiration. A couple of the characters in this film – William Gracey (J.R. Adduci) and Alistair Crump (Jared Leto) are named after Yale Gracey and Rolly Crump. They are the two real-life Imagineers, who were most actively responsible for the art design of the said mansions attraction in Disneyland parks.
Then we have, various kinds of ghost characters in this film, viz., a few classic characters like the spirit of psychic medium Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis), the skeletal Bride (Lindsay Lamb), the cloaked Hatbox Ghost (Jared Leto), and in addition, the hitchhiking ghosts, the stretched paintings, and the dancing spirits in the dining room, among others. All of these are also taken from the Disney parks’ characters.
Moreover, we liked the mixing of real-life Disney Parks characters with the reel-life Disney film characters. One might appreciate the efforts they are making to merge the two different worlds but will they succeed? We do not know that, yet. Although, we think, they have made a good business decision. And we further believe that it is a smart commercial venture by Disney. On the other hand, the question is about their emotional connection.
So, can it unite and motivate the fans of their theme parks to watch this film in great numbers?
Well, the studio tries hard, but it falls just short, as its fans have a little higher expectations. Maybe, if it wants to make it a popular movie franchise, then it will have to try much harder.
Key details of this 2023 American film
| Genre | Fantasy, Comedy, Drama, Family, Horror, Mystery, |
| Original language | English (USA) |
| Age-restrictions | PG-13 |
| Duration | 2 hours 3 minutes |
| Released in | July 2023 (Cinema Halls) & October 2023 (Streaming) |
| Writer | Katie Dippold |
| Director | Justin Simien |
| Cast | Rosario Dawson (Gabbie), Chase W. Dillon (Travis), Owen Wilson (Father Kent), LaKeith Stanfield (Ben Matthias), Tiffany Haddish (Harriet), Danny DeVito (Bruce Davis), Jamie Lee Curtis (Madame Leota), Jared Leto (Crump/Hatbox), J.R. Adduci (William Gracey), etc. |
| Taglines | Welcome, mere mortals. Home is where the haunt is. |
| Distributor | Disney Pictures. |
Poster of this 2023 American film
FM rating of this 2023 American film
| FM’s rating | 3.50/5 |
| FM’s short comment | With this kind of firepower of comedic actors in its roles, it is a good film to watch for any Disney movie fans, we wish they could have done more. |
Trailer of this 2023 American film
In case you like the mix of comedy and horror in a film like this one, then go ahead and check out our FM article about We Have A Ghost film, too.
Featured Image and the Poster of Haunted Mansion (2023) film are courtesy of Disney.