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| The
Haunted Mansion DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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The Haunted Mansion
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
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| DVD Release Date:
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April 20, 2004
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| Length:
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88 mins.
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| Rated:
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PG
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| Format:
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Widescreen (2.35:1)
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| Audio:
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Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, French Language Track, Spanish Language Track
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| Subtitles:
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Spanish, Closed Captioned
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| Extras:
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"The Haunted Mansion: Secrets Revealed" Featurette, "Anatomy of a Scene: Ghosts in the Graveyard" Featurette, Disney's DVD Virtual Ride: The Haunted Mansion", Deleted Scene: Emma and Ezra, Outtakes Reel, Music Video, Audio Commentaries, DVD-ROM Content
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Last year, Disney released two movies based on theme park rides from Walt Disney World - Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion. One was successful, and one was not. If you guessed that The Haunted Mansion was the failure, you were right. The difference? In my opinion, it boils down to the filmmakers. Would you rather see a Jerry Bruckheimer produced movie starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley or another lame attempt at family comedy by once-great comic Eddie Murphy? The choice is clear. But, regardless of how well the movies did, I honestly believe that The Haunted Mansion will find new life on DVD. From what I know about movies and parenting, parents would rather buy a sub-par movie on DVD than take the family to a sub-par movie at the theater. Just an observation.
In The Haunted Mansion, Eddie Murphy plays Jim Evers, a man who spends too much time working and not enough time with his family. Realizing this, he sets some time aside to spend with his loved ones - but first he must make a pit stop to look at one last house - which of course turns out to be The Haunted Mansion. Why is the mansion haunted? The former owner was engaged to be married, but when his fiance turned up dead of an apparent suicide, he took his own life. There, his ghost and the ghosts of his butler, servants and a bunch of others live forever until such time that the fiance returns. So why Eddie Murphy? Turns out his wife is the spitting image of the fiance. There, the mystery is unraveled and Eddie learns a lesson or two about the meaning of family. Not a terrible movie, but not exactly blockbuster material - unless you're talking Blockbuster Video.
On first glance, it would appear as though the DVD for The Haunted Mansion is packed with features, but this isn't necessarily true. First up, there's a feature titled "The Haunted Mansion: Secrets Revealed". Among other things, we hear from a variety of people associated with the film about how much they enjoyed the Haunted Mansion ride at Walt Disney World, from Rick Baker about his special make-up effects for the film, about the film's various visual effects and the making-of the actual mansion used for the film. It starts out like a "making-of" featurette, but ends up looking mostly at the film's effects, which kinda turned me off.
The next feature is "Anatomy of a Scene: Ghosts in the Graveyard" and it's another one looking at the film's effects. We hear from various behind-the-scenes folks about creating the scene and all the work that went into it. Watching, I couldn't help but think that the makers of the film only wanted to make and effects film - and this may be another reason the movie failed - they spent too much time making good effects, and not enough time making a good movie.
Next up, we get a "Haunted Mansion Virtual Tour". This is one of those great virtual features you'll find on a lot of Disney DVD's and this one doesn't disappoint. Hosted by Ezra and Emma (played by Wallace Shawn and Dina Water), you can take your time going through the house and checking out everything as you go along. There are parts go on a bit long, but it's still a fun ride.
Also available is a deleted scene - an extended look at the introduction of Ezra and Emma. It's fun, because these were two of the more likeable characters from the movie. An outtake reel and your standard Disney music video ('Superstition' by Raven) round out the features. For commentaries, we get one from producer Don Hahn, Visual Effects Supervisor Jay Redd and Screenwriter David Berenbaum and another from Director Rob Minkoff and Costume Designer Mona May (which oddly enough isn't advertised on DVD's cover).
Insert the disc into your computer's DVD-ROM and you'll find content such as a "Ghostly Effects Studio" (similar to the one included with Pirates of the Caribbean where you can make ghosts from your digital photos), a "Haunt the Mansion Ride" where you can take a virtual tour of the set, an "Attraction History Video" which is pretty self-explanatory, an image gallery, some screensavers and wallpapers and some printable activities.
Again, this wasn't a great movie, but it's wholesome family fun that the kids will enjoy. I suspect that if the film would have been more successful, we would have gotten some more and better special features, but the disc makes half-decent use of the ones we do get. If anything, the movie served as an advertisement for the theme park attraction and made me want to visit Disney World to experience it for myself.
| The Movie: |
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5/10 |
| The Extras: |
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6/10 |
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The Haunted Mansion
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