If you know me, then it's no secret that I am a big fan of most things Disney, especially the theme parks. So it would probably be no surprise that I was sort of excited to see this film based on my favorite Disney World attraction of the same name. Of course I was a bit skeptical; I mean this was a movie based on a theme park ride after all.


The Plot

Louisiana real estate team of Evers and Evers is made up of husband and wife Jim and Sara Evers. One day, Sara was contacted by telephone from the Gracey Mansion to come to their property for a consultation and evaluation for sale. Little did she realize that the call was made by Master Gracey's butler Ramsley, who is a ghost.

The mansion still stands after 100 or more years despite the fact that no living occupants have been there for so long. The mansion is haunted by owner, Master Gracey, his servants and 995 other ghosts who are cursed to the property since a masquerade ball in the 1900s. Back on this night, Master Gracey asked the love of his life, Elizabeth, for her hand in marriage. The night ended horribly with an apparent suicide by Elizabeth, and then by the master himself. This somehow cursed all the guests to die and be cursed to the spacious manor for all eternity.

Sara was contacted because she is believed to be the reincarnation of Elizabeth, who she looks exactly alike. If she would marry Master Gracey, then the curse would be broken and the ghosts would be able to move on into the afterlife that awaits them in Heaven.

The whole Evers crew (Jim, Sara, their son Michael & daughter Megan) drives down to the mansion on their way out of town for a weekend together. They are forced to stay the night in the mansion due to a torrential rain storm which floods the road. One by one, the family slowly becomes aware that the mansion is haunted. Jim Evers meets Madam Leota, who is the ghostly head of a gypsy woman stuck in her own crystal ball. She sends him on two scary adventures in order to break the curse of Gracey Manor and save his wife from sure death.


Analysis

It turns out that at the same time that this movie was being planned; Eddie Murphy (Jim Evers) was planning his own comedy about a haunted house. This is how he got involved in this Disney project, and it turns out that it is a good thing he did because the movie does have many laughs due to Murphy's comedy style.

Eddie Murphy's scenes with Madame Leota are very funny, especially the one where the two meet for the first time. He refers to her as the "crazy green gypsy in the giant paperweight". As the movie must emulate the Disneyland attraction, there is a wealth of material available to choose from. The whole graveyard scene with ghosts that will seem familiar to those who have visited the Haunted Mansion attraction are here, including the hitchhiking ghosts and the "singing busts" who steal the scene with their need to sing barbershop harmonies together.

The ride itself is probably OK for children five or six-years-old and up, and the film is probably OK for those same ages. Eddie Murphy says ass twice in the film, and that is the extent of the vulgarity, and by today's standards it's pretty lame, although those two words and some scary(ish) scenes earned the movie a PG rating.

The movie is a simple adventure that incorporates life and death, and even tackles the afterlife briefly of Heaven and Hell. You may hear a few people that claim to have seen it and didn't like it. But really, what's not to like? It's an Eddie Murphy adventure that deals with ghosts - it's a formula that sounds like it would be hilarious. It does work, because it is funny. It's not the funniest movie by Murphy, or the best live-action film by Disney - but it will entertain you for sure, in fact bring the whole family.



The Blu-Ray Difference

For those of you who are not too familiar with Blu-Ray discs, this is the next generation for DVDs. If you had finally purchased your HDTV and your DVD collection looks pale in comparison to your HD programming you get from cable or satellite, then Blu-Ray is here to remedy that situation. Blu-Ray discs are capable of holding a zillion times more data the DVD discs can which means uncompressed audio and video and the movie looks spectacular.

On Blu-Ray discs the bonus features aren't usually anything spectacular - but they're coming along slowly. On this disc they have some of the bonus features that are also available on the DVD version (presented in 1080i now) and two new features made for the Blu-Ray disc. The new features are here to show off the Blu-Ray capabilities and also to serve you another reason to purchase the Blu-Ray edition if you had already owned the DVD.

Blu-Scape - Grave Spirits replaces the DVD feature of "walking" through the movie set of the mansion by showing quick movie clips of the film. Here, you are moving through a real cemetery, and you are surrounded by an eerie soundtrack filled with creepy noises and ghastly voices in an uncompressed 5.1 and a crisp 1080p video.

History of the Haunted Mansion was also featured in the DVD version. It's quite a journey that the attraction has come to get to fruition, and this short documentary takes you from sketches to models to Walt Disney himself showing what he thought would be in the ride. The video is presented in 1080i, although sometimes the vintage video still looks grainy sometimes.

Movie Showcase is an area where they highlight three video clips from the Haunted Mansion film to showcase the High-def audio and video capabilities. The scenes they choose are usually louder and a bit more colorful, and sometimes could spoil some aspects of the movie, so maybe it would wise to view after you have already seen the film. Again, this is presented in 1080p and uncompressed audio in 5.1.

Anatomy of a Scene: Ghosts in the Graveyard A behind the scenes look at the special effects of how they accomplished different ghostly scenes from the film. The video is presented in 1080i, and some of the darker scenes seem a little grainy at times as well.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups