Eddie Murphy's 'Haunted Mansion' is modestly amusing

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

THE HAUNTED MANSION (PG) Two-and-a-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) The Haunted Mansion is the second Disney amusement park attraction to get the movie treatment in 2003. Eddie Murphy stars in a PG-rated, family-oriented fright-and-fun film that's more specifically loyal to the original attraction than was the freewheeling and more imaginative "Pirates of the Caribbean." Disney, 98 minutes.

Because a lot of Disney amusement park rides had their start as movies, I suppose it makes some sort of sense to reverse the synergy. Let's just hope they stop before they get to "It's a Small World."

The modestly amusing "Haunted Mansion" is Eddie Murphy's latest family movie, capably made in live action by some of the team responsible for the studio's legendary "Beauty and the Beast" animation.

"Haunted" fits right into the comedian's second life as a PG-rated movie star and offers the same appeal and potential audience demographic as his "Nutty Professor" and "Doctor Doolittle" movies. Murphy is Jim Evers, a real estate agent whose ambitions and obsessive work habits limit the time he spends with his wife, Sara, and their two kids. In fact, while he ostensibly escorts his wife and children on a weekend getaway, he makes a detour to see someone about listing their mansion for sale.

It turns out to be a gothic estate haunted by ghosts since murder and suicide ruined a budding romance on the site more than a century before. The Evers family is welcomed by a spooky, white-as-a-ghost butler (Terence Stamp) and the estate owner, the handsome Master Gracey (Nathaniel Parker). A rainstorm floods area roads (of course), forcing the Evers to stay overnight.

And then, through the night they encounter spectral images, moving walls, "breathing doors," floating candlesticks, a haunted backyard cemetery, ghostly ballroom dancers, and even a barbershop-singing quartet of busts. (In other words, just about everything you remember if you've ever visited the ride at a Disney park.)

"Haunted" is much more specifically loyal to the original amusement attraction than the freewheeling and more imaginative "Pirates" film. Murphy gets to generate a few laughs, his character learns an important lesson about making family a top priority, a few frights are experienced (but nothing a school-aged child can't handle), and the "ride" is over.

Rated PG, with a few moments of fright.