The Haunted Mansion (2023)

It's almost kinda freeing to go into a movie with low expectations and to be blown away by it. My wife and her mom wanted to see the new film based on the theatrical production of Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place. I wasn't interested but I agreed to drive figuring I'd see something else. It wasn't in the cards to get to see Oppenheimer, based on the varying showtimes. So I went with Disney's Haunted Mansion.

In just the third weekend, Haunted Mansion has only made back around $45 million of its $150 million dollar budget. Rotten Tomatoes has the movie with a 40% approval rating. A movie and TV fanatics group on Facebook has basically thumbed it's nose at the picture. Like I said, I had low expectations. Yet from scene one, I had a blast.

I've never been to the Haunted Mansion at Disney. I've seen pictures and merchandise. That's it. Yet after watching this film, I really felt like I been in on it!

For those of you unfamiliar with the plot of the ride, 999 souls have died in the Haunted Mansion. If the evil spirit of the Hatbox Ghost can claim another willing soul by the time of the full moon, he'll have enough power to escape the house to wreak literal hell on earth.

It will take a group of misfits to solve the mystery of the Haunted Mansion and save the earth. The film really seemed to have that old 70s Disney live action magic. Just enough scares to be fun. Just enough humor to not be over-the-top. I felt vibes of Escape from Witch Mountain and the Apple Dumpling Gang movies, if Don Knott's and Tim Conway were stuck in a haunted house.

LaKeith Stanfield, who played the homicide detective in the first Knives Out movie was great as ghost skeptic Ben. I enjoyed the additional cast of Tiffany Haddish, Rosario Dawson and Owen Wilson as members of Ben's anti-ghost team. Danny DeVito steals the show, as usual, as a bumbling history professor with a bad ticker. But the actor to watch has got to be 13-year old Chase Dillon who plays Travis, the young son of the Haunted Mansion's new owner. This kid gave me vibes of Gary Coleman and Tyler James Williams when he was on Everybody Hates Chris. I really think Chase Dillon is going to be a star and deserves to be nominated for a Golden Globe at least! 

Really, the only thing about this movie that got on my nerves was the product placement. It was cute at first seeing Travis play with action figures based on Marvel super heroes. It was amusing when he pulled out the Marvel Super Heroes Monopoly. But then come the references to Amazon, CVS, Target, Yankee Candle, Burger King. I started to feel like I was watching the commercials instead of a movie. In fact, I think when this movie hits TV, families are going to have a hard time knowing when the movie stops and the commercial breaks take place as there is a ton of free advertising in this film.

One bit of free advertising I did not mind was for the city of New Orleans, where several scenes of this movie take place. I went to New Orleans years ago and this film made me want to go back! Great music. Amazing food. The haunted tours. The jazz funeral! I really miss the Big Easy.

Haunted Mansion has the potential to become a Halloween favorite. Like with 1982's The Thing, Universal Pictures made a huge mistake releasing the now cult classic horror movie in the middle of summer. Some argument that the problem with this film was that it was too 'woke.' I didn't feel like I was being preached at watching this movie. I did feel like it should be a heck of a lot cooler outside and closer to All Hallow's Eve when I was in the theaters for this one. I think if Disney can really link the streaming and possible network premiere of this film to Halloween, they'll have a sleeper hit on their hands like Hocus Pocus has become over the years. 

Only time will tell.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant One-Shot

2021 was a milestone year for several member's of Batman's Rogues Gallery. With a Penguin story by one of the actor's who have portrayed the villain, Danny DeVito, I was excited for the special. And I was very much willing to pay the full $9.99 cover price. 

I won't be making that mistake again.

The DeVito story was all over the place. It should be considered a cautionary for allowing actors free range to craft stories that stroke inflated egos. (Danny Devito played the Penguin in 1992's Batman Returns) I don't want to spoil this story. But it's definitely a fantasy story that never, EVER would happen in legitimate Batman canon.

I'm not ragging on just Danny Devito and what I assume is his comic book writing debut. Ms. Marvels' G. Willow Wilson's story starring Poison Ivy was confusing and too artsy-fartsy. And the Scarecrow story by Wes Craig (Deadly Class) makes an odd left turn and implicates Nightwing as some sort of chosen one in Dr. Crane's bizarre plans which were already too spastic to understand. 

There were some good stories. I loved the twist at the end of the Ra's al Ghul story. The Talia story was decent as well. I enjoyed how Stephanie Williams' (Wonder Woman: Black & Gold) take on the Red Hood kinda had a take on the villain's legend similar to that on Gotham. 

The Mad Hatter story was just fantastic. It would have made a great segment on an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. But the story that shined the most starred the villain that gets so little respect that cover artist Lee Bermejo (Batman: Noel) didn't even bother to put him on the cover: Killer Moth!

Killer Moth gets a bad rap mostly because he gets his butt kicked in Batgirl's origin story. And then by the hero again and again and again. Still, his short story, which was way too short was the cream of the crop! Mairghread Scott crafted an epic in less than 10 pages. If DC would greenlight a Killer Moth series written by the Transformers writer, I would request it in my LCS pull box in a heartbeat!

There's a big difference between this special and the most recent DC holiday special I read in Decmber, is that the festive book tried too to be relevant for just about every race, gender and creed instead of focusing on quality. In this special, I feel that the writers were trying to get too much into the psyche of the characters. Thus storyline suffered greatly in many of the stories. Many of Batman's arch-enemies are insane. If you try to craft a tale from the point of view of a madman, things aren't going to make sense and that's what happened with the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and Al Ghul stories. I have no idea what Danny DeVito was trying to do with the Penguin. 

While this special was much better than last year's holiday annual, I'm still disappointed. To have to give up a Hamilton plus tax, I'd expect perfection from DC Comics. I hate to not support new comics in a day and age where consumership is greatly waning. But I can't afford to keep throwing my money away on sub-par works. Especially these pricey ones.

Do better, DC!

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars