Hey guys check out this Halloween cross over that I took part in.
DisneyOtoko: Welcome again Foolish Mortals to another installment of Haunted Mansion Month! I know I usually review movies I like. I do this for many reasons. One is so that I can highlight artistic achievements and failings of a work of art while introducing new observations that may not have been brought up before. I also do it because I feel that the artists should get praise and feedback from fans for their achievements and condemned for their failings. Today, though, we're going to look at a TERRIBLE Disney movie. A movie so terrible that it can be called the "Batman and Robin" of Disney movies. A movie so unbearably bad that if I review it alone I might hang myself just like the Ghost Host. That is why I asked my fellow Disney fan and reviewer Moviefan12 to assist me in reviewing this film that never should have materialized under any circumstances!! This is the awful Haunted Mansion movie!! Buddha and Paul Frees help us all!!
DisneyOtoko: Thanks Moviefan12! Now Disney has prided itself on well written, well acted, and diverse characters. Whether the characters are simple and charming like Donald and Goofy to really complex like the cursed soul of the Beast from B&B and Terra from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Unfortunately the Haunted Mansion film is less concerned with this than the other features. The 999 ghosts while 1 dimensional were flexible enough for interpretation so that they could become more developed characters, but screenwriter David Berenbaum decided that it would be more interesting by having the focus of the film be on living characters that have really nothing to do with the Mansion. "WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I think 999 ghosts is enough to make a pretty interesting movie. But what do people like me and Moviefan12 know? I mean all we do is actually care about the source material!
Jim Evers: Played by Eddie Murphy: Now contrary to popular belief I believe that Eddie Murphy is actually the best acted living character. He's still written horribly, but Murphy is genuinely trying and failing to make this film enjoyable. That can't be said for the actors playing his family.
Sarah Evers: Played by Marsha Thomason: I'm sure she's a nice woman and everything, but she is BORING!! There are no inflections in her voice whatsoever! There aren't any really noticeable facial expressions either! It makes me wonder whether these people actually cared about the project. She fails to emotionally connect to the audience in every single way!!!! Believe it or not she's not the worst performer in this movie! That is reserved for the Evers children!!
Megan and Michael Evers: played by Aree Davis and Marc John Jefferies: Oh Wow! I have never seen acting this bad (maybe Tommy Wiseau was worse, but that goes without saying). These kids are terrible! When they see the ghost orb of Elizabeth (no not Elizabeth Swan) they have no expressions of shock, disbelief, fright or any emotion that one would have if they were witnessing a paranormal event! They get the "I don't care about the film" aspect from their onscreen Mom. No real inflections in their voices and of course horribly written dialogue. Micheal is even more lame because he can't even kill one stupid spider! I don't like spiders either, but that's all the more reason why I should kill it and I do! Geez kid Grow a pair why don't you! The living characters are terrible! The dead characters are actually better. They are still written horribly, but the acting is much improved!
Emma and Ezra: played by Dina Waters and Wallace Shawn: Things are starting to pick up in terms of acting. These two are acted very well. They have chemistry and capture the bumbling servant archetype well. Their dialogue like all the others sucks, but the performances help us cope with that. These characters actually have potential, but alas more Evers family! Ugh!
I'm skipping Leota because she absolutely sucks and I'll talk about her "plot" significance when I talk about Master Gracey!
Ramsley: played by Terrance Stamp: Again the performance is actually good, but again the writing is bad. His dialogue is actually okay, but there are so many logistical problems here. Ramsley has all these evil powers such as calling in the evil spirits at the end and locking up the house to prevent Murphy from getting inside. HOW CAN HE DO THIS???????!!!!!!!!!!! What makes him so special? How can he have these powers and everyone else including Master Gracey doesn't have them? That's the biggest problem. The film never explains how it's world works. The rules of what a ghost can and can't do are never addressed nor are there any implications that can be made as to what they can do. It' so bad that we never get the full scoop on what the curse is. Basic expository questions such as Who cast it? and Why was it cast? None of these things are explained. Even the information we are given is vague at best and is never elaborated on! How can we emotionally connect with these dead people if we don't know what's troubling them? (Beauty and the Beast answered those questions and was a beautiful film. It knew how to handle this) Oh well at least we've still got Eddie Murphy and his "hilarious" antics right?
Master Gracey: played by Nathaniel Parker: What? A character in this movie that's actually written decently? A character that has a really good performance that actually genuinely emotionally connects to the audience despite the complete stupidity and laziness? YES!!!! Master Gracey is really the only character that is good. Parker took a terrible film and actually put effort into the performance. All the dignity that should have been placed in the Haunted mansion film is inside this character and he does his absolute best and succeeds in playing the role of Master Gracey and Parker should be commended for it. Unfortunately that great performance can not save this film from being terrible. It's a shame because he was really good. He captured the mystery, elegance and pain of the character beautifully! Every time the film cut back to Eddie Murphy I literally groaned in disappointment. Why couldn't this movie have been about Master Gracey? I mean he's the one who built the house!!!!!!!!! Another thing why did Eddie Murphy and family need to be in this movie? If the way to break the curse is to find the truth then why didn't Master Gracey after all these years consult Madame Leota? He's a smart guy he can figure out Leota's riddles no problem! Gracey could have easily found the trunk without Murphy's help! I thought the reason why the seance room was put in the house is because the owner was superstitious and wanted to seek counsel from Leota! So why didn't he do it????!!!!!!!!!!! Another plot and character fail!!!!!! A great character and performance with so much potential given the shaft because of Eddie Murphy and the other people that can't act is deeply disturbing and a disgusting betrayal to the Imagineers and the source material they created.
Artistic Presentation
While the story and characters are disappointing the art direction and set design is clearly the highlight of the film. The Mansion's design is a combination of all incarnations of the attraction. My only problem with it is that there's no Stretching Room!! That is the iconic room where we are not on a ride vehicle and we are with our fellow guests and the great reveal of our host in the flesh (literally or what's left of it). That still genuinely gets a scream out of people. You'd think such an important room would have found its way into Gracey Manor. Now I have more negative things to say. The various homages to the ride are included. Normally I would say that's a good thing, but every single attraction homage is NOT given the respect and dignity it deserves. It feels as if they were put in as an after thought. Like the filmmakers were so wrapped up in their "funny and enchanting" Eddie Murphy movie that they forgot it was based on an attraction and those elements were thrown in during the last 10 seconds of preproduction. While the set is nice, the attraction elements like the 999 grim grinning ghosts were given the shaft for the "funny" Eddie Murphy movie that was made.
Music
MF12: Now I'll be taking a look at the music and the while I do feel the song was only used for a joke in the film, I won't be going over that. Instead I'll be turning my attention to cover that the band Barenaked Ladies did record of this classic song for the film's soundtrack. Now I would like to address a rumor that has been floating around for ages since this film came out dealing with the singing busts. People have said and even Disney officials after the film came out have stated that the fifth bust you see is supposed to be Walt but according to the filmakers that isn't the case as that is supposed to be Thurl Ravenscroft. The reason for this is that he was the lead vocalist for Grim Grinning Ghosts not just Mansion but also Phantom Manor as well. I suppose that is a nice little tidbit and nice tribute to the ride in this otherwise lackluster film. Now if you still don't who he is he sang Your a Mean One Mr. Grinch and he was also the original voice of Tony The Tiger. Which unlike this film those were Grrrreat!
Grim Grinning Ghosts - Barenaked Ladies
Admittedly I was weary of this cover since the Ravenscroft version is a classic but I have to say that isn't that bad. Sure it does sound a bit bland in some areas but I actually think that it captures the spirit of the mansion quite well. I don't listen to much Barenaked Ladies unless you count the theme song for The Big Bang Theory but I gotta say they did a fine job on this. I actually think that this song is one of the better aspects of this film. Still nothing compares to the classic from the attraction but I think as a cover it is a good job. Now if you want to hear another great cover of this song look up the Dapper Dans version of this song on YouTube along with the House of Mouse version. They are both excellent. Going back to this song, I think what makes it work is that Barenaked Ladies understood that this was a classic song and I think that they didn't mess with it too much. On the same token, it sounds as though they actually had fun recording this.
Haunted Mansion Film Instrumental
Here again, I actually like this piece. It sets the mood and the mystery up quite well. The sounds used are just wonderful in this piece. It's like a rollercoaster for the years pieces happy, pieces sad. Moments gloomy, moments joyous. Now I do have one minor nitpick and that is in some areas it sounds more like a Christmas piece than something that should be attached to a film about The Haunted Mansion. It doesn't happen often but that does take me out of the song somewhat but other than that this is a decent piece. This and the cover of Grim Grinning Ghosts just go to show that sometimes good music can come from a bad film.
Final Thoughts
MF12: This isn't a perfect film. Not even a good film but taking a look at all of the attraction based films that I have seen which include Tower of Terror, all 4 Pirates and The Country Bears. I'd put this above The Country Bears but below Tower of Terror in terms of quality. Which is kinda sad considering that Tower of Terror is a TV movie but what Tower of Terror did right is that it had an engaging story and majority of the characters were likable. Sadly, the same can't be said for this film. Again, I honestly can't call this the worst attraction based film or even the worst Disney movie. With the interior design of the Mansion, I actually feel that the people behind this film wanted to make a faithful Mansion film but something happened along the way. Now as some you have heard, Gullimo del Toro is working on a reboot of this film and from the little I have seen of his films, I have high hopes along with him stating that the film will focus on the ghosts. Not to mention the fact that he is a fan of Mansion. Although the people behind this film claimed that they were fans of the Mansion but we all know how this turned out. Only time will tell how this future film turns out.
DisneyOtoko: I can definitely see why you give the movie slack Moviefan12 and I respect that. However, I believe that this movie overall completely sucks despite the positive points that Moviefan12 and I presented. The real reason for this is because there is NO EXCUSE on why this film turned out the way it did. There was plenty of source and story material available. Plus they could have just used Phantom Manor where the basic structure is already set up and all the writer has to do is fill in the blanks on certain points. Yes, I know Phantom Manor is dark, tragic and uncompromising in it's ending, but it has artistic integrity. (Also don't pull the "It's Disney! It's supposed to be light and happy" card because Disney has gone dark plenty of times and originally would never stoop to such demeaning storytelling lows to preserve the "family entertainment" title) To add insult to injury the film was made by legends of the Disney Animation Renaissance Don Hahn (Producer) and Rob Minkoff (Director). This is the worst for me personally. These two men are artists that I respect and admire. These guys worked on B&B and Lion King!!! I thought that even at their worst their films would just be the mundane kind of bad, not horrendous like this film. So much potential from a classic attraction that could have really been something special completely wasted on crappy storytelling, horrible writing, and halfassed homages to the attraction to get a cheap scare and laugh. The film fails at even achieving those two simple things! All this negativity is great venting, but it's also very discouraging. That's why next time I'm getting in the Halloween and Christmas mood when my good friend Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown makes his mark as the Mansion's greatest and most popular visitor in my review of the Haunted Mansion Holiday!!
DisneyOtoko: Welcome again Foolish Mortals to another installment of Haunted Mansion Month! I know I usually review movies I like. I do this for many reasons. One is so that I can highlight artistic achievements and failings of a work of art while introducing new observations that may not have been brought up before. I also do it because I feel that the artists should get praise and feedback from fans for their achievements and condemned for their failings. Today, though, we're going to look at a TERRIBLE Disney movie. A movie so terrible that it can be called the "Batman and Robin" of Disney movies. A movie so unbearably bad that if I review it alone I might hang myself just like the Ghost Host. That is why I asked my fellow Disney fan and reviewer Moviefan12 to assist me in reviewing this film that never should have materialized under any circumstances!! This is the awful Haunted Mansion movie!! Buddha and Paul Frees help us all!!
The Story
MF12: First of all, thanks for having me. Calling this the Batman & Robin of Disney seems a little rough though. I would have saved that for The Country Bears or Home on The Range. Did I enjoy this film? Yes, somewhat but it wasn't good. Now as for the story, it is cliche and tired. It's your typical stock story of a family that doesn't spend enough time together but going through something big will bring them closer together. Such as is the case with the Evers family. Here we have Eddie Murphy who I swear was stuck in his Donkey from Shrek shtick playing an overworked husband and father who alongside his wife, Sara are real estate agents Get it, this movie is about The Haunted Mansion and they sell houses. Excuse me but I think I need to pull out this old joke that hasn't seen the light the day for a while. I which the same could be said about this film.
Really, they were just asking for the Disney Facepalm. So the jist of the story is that Jim wants to take his family on a trip to bond But uh oh, work gets in the way when he gets a phone call about a great old mansion up for sale. What ever should he do? Is it A. ignore the offer and the just go on the trip. B. Combine the trip and scouting of the house. If you answered A, congratulations you have common sense but alas he went with B. Another cliche. Seriously this plot is like something you would see on a really bad cheesy sitcom. Unlike that though this darn thing wasn't 30 minutes. Oh I know I didn't even touch on the son and daughter but they will be brought up later. Let's just say they are forgettable.
Characters
DisneyOtoko: Thanks Moviefan12! Now Disney has prided itself on well written, well acted, and diverse characters. Whether the characters are simple and charming like Donald and Goofy to really complex like the cursed soul of the Beast from B&B and Terra from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Unfortunately the Haunted Mansion film is less concerned with this than the other features. The 999 ghosts while 1 dimensional were flexible enough for interpretation so that they could become more developed characters, but screenwriter David Berenbaum decided that it would be more interesting by having the focus of the film be on living characters that have really nothing to do with the Mansion. "WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I think 999 ghosts is enough to make a pretty interesting movie. But what do people like me and Moviefan12 know? I mean all we do is actually care about the source material!
Jim Evers: Played by Eddie Murphy: Now contrary to popular belief I believe that Eddie Murphy is actually the best acted living character. He's still written horribly, but Murphy is genuinely trying and failing to make this film enjoyable. That can't be said for the actors playing his family.
Sarah Evers: Played by Marsha Thomason: I'm sure she's a nice woman and everything, but she is BORING!! There are no inflections in her voice whatsoever! There aren't any really noticeable facial expressions either! It makes me wonder whether these people actually cared about the project. She fails to emotionally connect to the audience in every single way!!!! Believe it or not she's not the worst performer in this movie! That is reserved for the Evers children!!
Megan and Michael Evers: played by Aree Davis and Marc John Jefferies: Oh Wow! I have never seen acting this bad (maybe Tommy Wiseau was worse, but that goes without saying). These kids are terrible! When they see the ghost orb of Elizabeth (no not Elizabeth Swan) they have no expressions of shock, disbelief, fright or any emotion that one would have if they were witnessing a paranormal event! They get the "I don't care about the film" aspect from their onscreen Mom. No real inflections in their voices and of course horribly written dialogue. Micheal is even more lame because he can't even kill one stupid spider! I don't like spiders either, but that's all the more reason why I should kill it and I do! Geez kid Grow a pair why don't you! The living characters are terrible! The dead characters are actually better. They are still written horribly, but the acting is much improved!
Emma and Ezra: played by Dina Waters and Wallace Shawn: Things are starting to pick up in terms of acting. These two are acted very well. They have chemistry and capture the bumbling servant archetype well. Their dialogue like all the others sucks, but the performances help us cope with that. These characters actually have potential, but alas more Evers family! Ugh!
I'm skipping Leota because she absolutely sucks and I'll talk about her "plot" significance when I talk about Master Gracey!
Ramsley: played by Terrance Stamp: Again the performance is actually good, but again the writing is bad. His dialogue is actually okay, but there are so many logistical problems here. Ramsley has all these evil powers such as calling in the evil spirits at the end and locking up the house to prevent Murphy from getting inside. HOW CAN HE DO THIS???????!!!!!!!!!!! What makes him so special? How can he have these powers and everyone else including Master Gracey doesn't have them? That's the biggest problem. The film never explains how it's world works. The rules of what a ghost can and can't do are never addressed nor are there any implications that can be made as to what they can do. It' so bad that we never get the full scoop on what the curse is. Basic expository questions such as Who cast it? and Why was it cast? None of these things are explained. Even the information we are given is vague at best and is never elaborated on! How can we emotionally connect with these dead people if we don't know what's troubling them? (Beauty and the Beast answered those questions and was a beautiful film. It knew how to handle this) Oh well at least we've still got Eddie Murphy and his "hilarious" antics right?
Master Gracey: played by Nathaniel Parker: What? A character in this movie that's actually written decently? A character that has a really good performance that actually genuinely emotionally connects to the audience despite the complete stupidity and laziness? YES!!!! Master Gracey is really the only character that is good. Parker took a terrible film and actually put effort into the performance. All the dignity that should have been placed in the Haunted mansion film is inside this character and he does his absolute best and succeeds in playing the role of Master Gracey and Parker should be commended for it. Unfortunately that great performance can not save this film from being terrible. It's a shame because he was really good. He captured the mystery, elegance and pain of the character beautifully! Every time the film cut back to Eddie Murphy I literally groaned in disappointment. Why couldn't this movie have been about Master Gracey? I mean he's the one who built the house!!!!!!!!! Another thing why did Eddie Murphy and family need to be in this movie? If the way to break the curse is to find the truth then why didn't Master Gracey after all these years consult Madame Leota? He's a smart guy he can figure out Leota's riddles no problem! Gracey could have easily found the trunk without Murphy's help! I thought the reason why the seance room was put in the house is because the owner was superstitious and wanted to seek counsel from Leota! So why didn't he do it????!!!!!!!!!!! Another plot and character fail!!!!!! A great character and performance with so much potential given the shaft because of Eddie Murphy and the other people that can't act is deeply disturbing and a disgusting betrayal to the Imagineers and the source material they created.
Artistic Presentation
While the story and characters are disappointing the art direction and set design is clearly the highlight of the film. The Mansion's design is a combination of all incarnations of the attraction. My only problem with it is that there's no Stretching Room!! That is the iconic room where we are not on a ride vehicle and we are with our fellow guests and the great reveal of our host in the flesh (literally or what's left of it). That still genuinely gets a scream out of people. You'd think such an important room would have found its way into Gracey Manor. Now I have more negative things to say. The various homages to the ride are included. Normally I would say that's a good thing, but every single attraction homage is NOT given the respect and dignity it deserves. It feels as if they were put in as an after thought. Like the filmmakers were so wrapped up in their "funny and enchanting" Eddie Murphy movie that they forgot it was based on an attraction and those elements were thrown in during the last 10 seconds of preproduction. While the set is nice, the attraction elements like the 999 grim grinning ghosts were given the shaft for the "funny" Eddie Murphy movie that was made.
Music
MF12: Now I'll be taking a look at the music and the while I do feel the song was only used for a joke in the film, I won't be going over that. Instead I'll be turning my attention to cover that the band Barenaked Ladies did record of this classic song for the film's soundtrack. Now I would like to address a rumor that has been floating around for ages since this film came out dealing with the singing busts. People have said and even Disney officials after the film came out have stated that the fifth bust you see is supposed to be Walt but according to the filmakers that isn't the case as that is supposed to be Thurl Ravenscroft. The reason for this is that he was the lead vocalist for Grim Grinning Ghosts not just Mansion but also Phantom Manor as well. I suppose that is a nice little tidbit and nice tribute to the ride in this otherwise lackluster film. Now if you still don't who he is he sang Your a Mean One Mr. Grinch and he was also the original voice of Tony The Tiger. Which unlike this film those were Grrrreat!
Grim Grinning Ghosts - Barenaked Ladies
Admittedly I was weary of this cover since the Ravenscroft version is a classic but I have to say that isn't that bad. Sure it does sound a bit bland in some areas but I actually think that it captures the spirit of the mansion quite well. I don't listen to much Barenaked Ladies unless you count the theme song for The Big Bang Theory but I gotta say they did a fine job on this. I actually think that this song is one of the better aspects of this film. Still nothing compares to the classic from the attraction but I think as a cover it is a good job. Now if you want to hear another great cover of this song look up the Dapper Dans version of this song on YouTube along with the House of Mouse version. They are both excellent. Going back to this song, I think what makes it work is that Barenaked Ladies understood that this was a classic song and I think that they didn't mess with it too much. On the same token, it sounds as though they actually had fun recording this.
Haunted Mansion Film Instrumental
Here again, I actually like this piece. It sets the mood and the mystery up quite well. The sounds used are just wonderful in this piece. It's like a rollercoaster for the years pieces happy, pieces sad. Moments gloomy, moments joyous. Now I do have one minor nitpick and that is in some areas it sounds more like a Christmas piece than something that should be attached to a film about The Haunted Mansion. It doesn't happen often but that does take me out of the song somewhat but other than that this is a decent piece. This and the cover of Grim Grinning Ghosts just go to show that sometimes good music can come from a bad film.
Final Thoughts
MF12: This isn't a perfect film. Not even a good film but taking a look at all of the attraction based films that I have seen which include Tower of Terror, all 4 Pirates and The Country Bears. I'd put this above The Country Bears but below Tower of Terror in terms of quality. Which is kinda sad considering that Tower of Terror is a TV movie but what Tower of Terror did right is that it had an engaging story and majority of the characters were likable. Sadly, the same can't be said for this film. Again, I honestly can't call this the worst attraction based film or even the worst Disney movie. With the interior design of the Mansion, I actually feel that the people behind this film wanted to make a faithful Mansion film but something happened along the way. Now as some you have heard, Gullimo del Toro is working on a reboot of this film and from the little I have seen of his films, I have high hopes along with him stating that the film will focus on the ghosts. Not to mention the fact that he is a fan of Mansion. Although the people behind this film claimed that they were fans of the Mansion but we all know how this turned out. Only time will tell how this future film turns out.
DisneyOtoko: I can definitely see why you give the movie slack Moviefan12 and I respect that. However, I believe that this movie overall completely sucks despite the positive points that Moviefan12 and I presented. The real reason for this is because there is NO EXCUSE on why this film turned out the way it did. There was plenty of source and story material available. Plus they could have just used Phantom Manor where the basic structure is already set up and all the writer has to do is fill in the blanks on certain points. Yes, I know Phantom Manor is dark, tragic and uncompromising in it's ending, but it has artistic integrity. (Also don't pull the "It's Disney! It's supposed to be light and happy" card because Disney has gone dark plenty of times and originally would never stoop to such demeaning storytelling lows to preserve the "family entertainment" title) To add insult to injury the film was made by legends of the Disney Animation Renaissance Don Hahn (Producer) and Rob Minkoff (Director). This is the worst for me personally. These two men are artists that I respect and admire. These guys worked on B&B and Lion King!!! I thought that even at their worst their films would just be the mundane kind of bad, not horrendous like this film. So much potential from a classic attraction that could have really been something special completely wasted on crappy storytelling, horrible writing, and halfassed homages to the attraction to get a cheap scare and laugh. The film fails at even achieving those two simple things! All this negativity is great venting, but it's also very discouraging. That's why next time I'm getting in the Halloween and Christmas mood when my good friend Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown makes his mark as the Mansion's greatest and most popular visitor in my review of the Haunted Mansion Holiday!!
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