Haunted Mansion (2023)

Score: 4 / 5

My most anticipated movie of the summer might also be my favorite. Haunted Mansion might be the third film adaptation of my favorite Disney ride (and, frankly, a favorite Disney property, period) -- after the delightful 2003 feature and the 2021 Muppets streamer -- but it's the best one yet. Star-studded, kinetic, uproariously funny and surprisingly scary, it's a nearly perfect addition to Disney's live action features of late and a delicious way to usher in the spooky season.

First things first: it keeps it simple. Disney has had some trouble with bloated, convoluted stories in the past, but with Katie Dippold's (The Heat, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call) screenplay and Justin Simien's (Dear White People, Bad Hair) direction, this one is pared down to a streamlined and relevant plot. Recently widowed Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her young son Travis (Chase Dillon) move from New York into a glorious antique manor in Louisiana. Almost immediately, they are chased out by its very active ghostly inhabitants. But the ghosts follow them away, drawing them repeatedly back to Gracey Manor until they give in and seek help. Gathering a team of astrophysicist Ben (LaKeith Stanfield), medium Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), priest Kent (Owen Wilson), and professor Bruce (Danny DeVito), the team takes up residence in the house to try and free the house of its increasingly dangerous hauntings.

While some may decry the blatant humor of the screenplay, I found it refreshing in a way not dissimilar to Jungle Cruise, especially to help temper the shockingly dark aesthetic and themes of this film. Each character, especially comedic character actors Haddish, DeVito, and Wilson, is given some ham-fisted one-liners, but their delivery and the nonstop pace make the entire affair delightful to the point that I was often breathless while laughing from one zinger to the next. And there are a few adult-oriented innuendos in true Disney style that really make the movie accessible to everyone. That said, it's also refreshing that there is no real romance in this film -- a small hint between Ben and Gabbie, but never explicit -- which makes it both more palatable for its audience and reliable as drama. 

Alongside its comedy, however, Haunted Mansion features some of the darkest material from the studio in many years. Gabbie and Travis are still reeling from the loss of their husband/father, and the movie leans heavily into the timely (and almost played-out, these days) trope of supernatural horror dealing with grief. Ben, arguably the protagonist of this story, is also still in debilitating mourning for the loss of his wife, which helps him connect with and help Travis in a way no other character does. Stanfield brings his always-reliable dedication to the role that could easily have been played as bland or starched; he fills every single beat with depths of emotion and weighty character history that the screenplay barely spells out. He brings a gravitas that is much needed, especially during the first half of the film, that stops the whole affair from derailing itself with speedy editing and an abundance of comedy.

Because things do indeed go dark, so to speak, when the real antagonist shows up. The house itself is of course the draw, and it showcases every moment from the ride in fabulous detail. Endless halls, impossible staircases, backwards spinning clocks and floating candelabras, ghostly portraits and busts, the ballroom, the attic, the stretching antechamber, the graveyard. It's all there, populated with the lovable and dubious ghosts that have become family for us niche community of fans. When the Hatbox Ghost (Jared Leto) shows up, things lurch into the second half, where the plot really kicks into high gear; I was surprised Disney wanted to showcase a serial killer as their villain, but this is obviously the material best suited for such a character, and he's a fittingly spooky addition. With the ghost's malicious goal of collecting and corrupting souls, Ben especially is driven to a place where we can experience the film's message that grief makes us vulnerable, and that vulnerability can help us connect with other hurting souls and live our lives more fully while we have life to enjoy.

It's not all perfect. Editing in the first half is jumpy and jarring, to say nothing of the screenplay, which could just as easily have cut the shenanigans of various ghosts following the characters home and forcing them to return to the mansion. Jump-starting them all at the mansion might have served this story better, allowed us more time with the characters to interact with each other and the ghosts, a la The Haunting of Hill House or House on Haunted Hill. There is no barbershop quartet of stone busts, sadly, and while "Grim Grinning Ghosts" gets a jazzy new dance version at the end, I'd have liked the full song at some point. And then there's the film's one true disappointment for me: Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota looks weird, sounds awful, and does nothing interesting despite being, arguably, the most iconic part of the IP. Her stilted dialogue doesn't rhyme and her delivery feels disinterested and awkward at best, reminding me a bit of Jodie Foster's bizarre bad French and disconnected demeanor in Elysium. I may never recover from the disappointment of that character and performance, but the rest of the movie is just about perfect for my tastes. I'm already ready to watch it again!