(News4usonline) – After nearly 20 years moviegoers and Disney enjoyers alike get to witness the brand new reboot of one of Disney’s most well-known rides “The Haunted Mansion.” To get some things clear it is not a catch-up of the previous film from 2003 starring Eddie Murphy or part of an extended storyline.
It is simply its own story which is a great idea for a reboot. The approach of the newer film allows both versions to be their own self without allowing one to overshadow the other leaving them to have their own charm.
Just focusing on the 2023 version the audience starts the “Haunted Mansion” by meeting Ben Matthias, who was previously an engineer interested in the paranormal but lost that interest after the death of his wife. Sooner or later about a few years later we meet a mother and her son (Gabbie and Travis) who arrive at their new home, a 19th-century gothic-style mansion located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The only issue is when they arrive they are welcomed with presently active and intimidating spirits, almost too many to count. Due to these events, they go searching for a team of experts to help make their mansion a home. The first recruit was Father Kent who convinces and pushes Ben to join and to eventually start his grieving process properly.
They do their research and find Harriet as a medium that way there is communication between the living and the dead. Lastly, Professor Bruce Davis, a historian that way they know what happened in the mansion and how to help let these spirits be at peace.
While there were new main human characters we luckily got to see plenty of familiar faces from the ride including Eleanor Gracey, the hatbox ghost played by Jared Leto, Madame Leota, who is portrayed by iconic scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. Something that stuck out to me about this particular batch of mortals is how although they are not biological families besides Gabbie and Travis there is a found family trope in this very film.
Despite the group just meeting one another not that long beforehand there was always a sense of support and encouragement between them, something you do not see very often. At one particular point, each character has a down moment with one of the other characters not that far behind to help them deal with their own personal demons while also trying to cast the literal bully of all ghosts out.
The balance of groundedness with these mortals developing a new familial relationship and the terrors of their personal fears and the spooks from mainly Crump himself is what made this film so engaging. Arguably, I believe what also stood out in this film was the scare factor. I, including other audience members, found ourselves jump scared, and being kept on our toes.
Overall, the movie is a great representation of what PG-13 is. The film has the factor that the ghostly experience was made for a much broader audience than children and horror-loving adults having a good time.
Top photo caption:
| (L-R): Rosario Dawson as Gabbie, Tiffany Haddish as Harriet, LaKeith Stanfield as Ben, and Owen Wilson as Father Kent in Disney’s live-action HAUNTED MANSION. Photo Jalen Marlowe. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
Attending Long Beach State University. Former color guard performer and graduate of Bellflower High School.