im Evers (Murphy) is a dedicated real estate agent who can't resist a sale. When his wife and real estate partner Sara (Thomason) receives a call from a mysterious stranger requesting a meeting at his mansion, Jim insists they check it out on the way out of town for a family vacation. They'll be there only "20 minutes, tops," he promises.
At the sprawling estate, which includes an adjacent graveyard, the family is greeted at the door by the butler, Ramsley (Stamp). He seems surprised to find that Sara isn't alone, but leads them all into the dining hall, where the master of the house has arranged an elegant dinner. They are soon joined by Edward Gracey (Parker), the owner of the mansion, who is clearly enchanted with Sara.
With the road flooded by the heavy rainstorm outside, dinner turns into an overnight stay for the Evers family. After showing them to their rooms, Ramsley tells Jim the master wants a word with him in the library. There, Jim discovers a secret passage behind the bookcase and a passageway that leads him to the chamber of Madame Leota (Tilly), a riddle-spouting fortuneteller trapped inside a crystal ball.
When Master Gracie finds Sara looking for her husband, he reveals the painful history of the mansion to her and the tragic fate of his grandfather's lost love, Elizabeth. Meanwhile, in the attic, the kids stumble onto another piece of the mystery, a picture of a woman who looks exactly like their mother.
But there are even greater secrets hidden in the house, as Jim and the children are told by Madame Leota. Together, they must uncover the truth about the past and break the curse to save Sara from becoming one of the mansion's many happy haunts.
More Caribbean than Country
As far as films based on theme park rides go, The Haunted Mansion is much closer in quality to Pirates of the Caribbean than it is to The Country Bears. And it has much more in common with its source material than either of the previous efforts. But where Pirates was edgy and clever, The Haunted Mansion is more family-oriented and innocuous, and the scope of its appeal is considerably more limited.
The formulaic story takes a while to get moving, and even then doesn't really achieve a brisk pace, even during the CGI-heavy finale. But amid the typical faulty logic of horror movies and unexplained plot points (like Sara's uncanny resemblance to the late Elizabeth), there are moments of sincerity, humor and heart-pounding suspense.
The toothsome Murphy is in full-on warm-and-fuzzy mode here, the one persona he's had success with in the past few years, in films such as The Nutty Professor and Dr. Doolittle. As the grim butler Ramsley, Stamp is an excellent foil for Murphy's buoyant comedy and a creepy presence throughout the film as he pops in and out of rooms unannounced.
The real star of the film, however, is the lavish production design. The mansion is a gothic masterpiece with evocative touches inspired by the Disney attraction sprinkled throughout. The graveyard scene is especially fun, complete with a barbershop quartet of singing busts and other familiar characters that are too good to spoil. A slow, orchestral rendition of the mansion's theme song subtly completes the authentic atmosphere throughout the film.
