**/**** Image A- Sound A+ Extras B
starring Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Wallace Shawn, Marsha Thomason
screenplay by David Berenbaum
directed by Rob Minkoff
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Watching Eddie Murphy act his heart out in The Haunted Mansion, you have to ask yourself: how does he do it? How does he take a family-entertainment sausage like this and keep his enthusiasm up, filling out his time-tested family man with enough tics and asides to almost humanize him? Alas, the question is a moot point, because all that hard work is thrown away–Murphy is working in a vacuum, performing to the best of his ability a role that's completely beneath him. And that sums up the production in general: a lot of very talented people, from actors and technicians to designers and costumers, have knocked themselves out in the service of an advertisement for a theme park. The good work hasn't even got the wherewithal to reach beyond its material: gifted though they are, everybody involved with the production believes in the system to such an extent that the chances of artistic subversion on set were about nil. The result is surprisingly watchable but predictably unmoving.
Murphy plays Jim Evers, a job-oriented real estate agent who naturally has more interest in selling houses than in tending to his wife–and business partner–Sara and children. Such a lapse in family interest cannot go unpunished, thus the gods conspire to have Master Gracey of Gracey Mansion (Nathaniel Parker) contact him about selling the property. Thinking he'll step in for a minute, he detours his family away from a weekend getaway so as to get to know the Master, but as soon as they arrive the rains flood the road and strand the clan at the mansion. And then the strange goings-on begin: While creepy butler Ramsley (Terence Stamp) is bad enough, Jim soon discovers secret passages that lead to strange chambers and…ghosts. Hard to believe, but Gracey Mansion is haunted, and Sara looks strangely like the Gracey's long-dead inamorata–suggesting that marriage to the undead Master will release the curse that ties so many souls to the house.
To be fair, my dread at seeing a family film based on a Disneyland ride was somewhat assuaged by the high level of technical proficiency on display. Murphy, as stated earlier, is excellent, and veteran Stamp is even better, bringing genuine gravitas to what is little more than a cliché evil-butler role. The look of the film is also surprisingly sumptuous: no expense has been spared to fill Gracey Mansion with detail and bric-a-brac, and the cinematography by Remy Adefarasin gives it the right saturated glow. But all is not well: the governing intelligence behind The Haunted Mansion limits the effectiveness of these titanic efforts, denying it a sensibility that might have set it apart. There's a curiously muted quality to the film, as though it were afraid of seeming like itself–not just because it's based on a ride, but because it's trying not to be too radical for the family audience. Everyone has laboured to make a truly spectacular clone–more human than human, yet less individuated than the long-forgotten original.
In the end, The Haunted Mansion is a series of memories stitched together: old-dark-house tropes (the knocked-on door that menacingly squeaks open) are mated with family-comedy tropes (timid son Michael (Marc John Jefferies) must face his fear of spiders) and dressed in digital shenanigans as colourful as they are stock. The difference between this rip-off and other rip-offs is that the contempt for the audience has been replaced by an aw-shucks reverence for the very idea of unoriginality–the film's most discouraging element is its nonchalant acceptance of its reproducibility. Though one can see the love in the images of The Haunted Mansion, it's like the love of a Fassbinder character for one of his sadists: it burns like crazy and leaves you with nothing but bruises.
THE DVD
Disney's THX-certified widescreen DVD release of The Haunted Mansion looks and sounds pretty good.* The 2.35:1, 16×9-enhanced transfer is especially remarkable for its lustrous colours–crucial in a film of such deep and subtle hues. Definition is slightly soft, but it's no big problem. The 5.1 Dolby Digital soundmix, however, far outclasses the video, with a smooth, harmonious mix that brilliantly uses the surround channels without making them seem isolated from the fronts.
On another track, producer Don Hahn, visual effects supervisor Jay Redd, and screenwriter David Berenbaum weigh in on their contributions; although there are some good tidbits to be found in this jokey and anecdotal commentary (the first of two), they're buried in bad zingers and self-congratulation. It's a bit disappointing to hear how little they regret having raided the Bob Hope/Abbott and Costello old-dark-house genre for most of the plot points, and their tendency to refer to classic films as "this old [blank] movie" grates. Director Rob Minkoff and costume designer Mona May provide an additional yakker that's more comprehensive, if given over to tech revelations and actor-worship in lieu of insight into actual artistic decisions. Biggest surprise: Terence Stamp's prosthetic lip, designed to give him a Boris Karloff look.
Additional extras break down as follows:
"Making the Mansion" Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (11 mins.)
Various creative and technical personnel (including Minkoff and make-up artist Rick Baker) detail the arduous task of bringing the film to life. This is a surprisingly interesting exploration of the various techniques and procedures involved in mounting the spectacle–the digitizing of Jennifer Tilly's crystal ball is especially fascinating.
Anatomy of a Scene: Ghosts in the Graveyard (11 mins.)
Another making-of, this one dealing with the make-up- and digital image-heavy graveyard scene. A little more haphazard than the previous featurette, it's still an interesting look at the awesome undertaking of a picture like The Haunted Mansion.
Haunted Mansion Virtual Tour
Redundant and insulting are words I'd use to describe this item, in which servants Wallace Shawn and Marsha Thomason lead you through the mansion with a click of your directional buttons. For the easily amused only.
Deleted Scene: Emma and Ezra (2 mins.)
Ezra and Emma's introduction, in which Emma reveals her ghostly nature. Would not have been out of place in the final cut.
Bloopers (6 mins.)
For those who love this sort of thing, here they are. For those who don't, here's your warning.
Capping the non-ROM portion of supplementary material: trailers for Aladdin: Special Edition, Ella Enchanted, Ghosts of the Abyss, The Incredibles, The Haunted Mansion videogame, the "Witch" young-adult books, the "Tower of Terror" ride, and the sitcom "My Wife and Kids", plus a cheapjack video for Raven's savaging of the Stevie Wonder classic "Supersitition!" that's largely dependant upon clips from the movie.
DVD-ROM EXTRAS
Attraction History Video
A short history of the ride that inspired the film, with "imagineers" past and present explaining the trials involved in its design and construction. This would have held more interest had gone into any kind of depth; as it stands, it's just a bunch of nerds gushing.
Ghostly Effects Studio
Insert a picture of yourself, and come out looking like a ghost.
Haunt This Computer
Now that you've got a ghostly picture of yourself, why not make it into an animated screensaver or desktop? Makes sense to me.
Printable Activities
5 items to print out, including iron-on transfers and door hangers.
Photo Gallery
Scads of photos from behind-the-scenes.
Assuming that the effects studio and computer haunting haven't drained your energy, you can indulge in more picture-making shenanigans online–a weblink to "Internet Morphing Fun" rounds out the disc.
88 minutes; PG; 2.35:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1; English SDH, Spanish subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; Disney
*Also available in fullscreen.
