"The Haunted Mansion"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Eddie Murphy as JIM EVERS Terrence Stamp as RAMSLEY Nathaniel Parker as MASTER GRACEY Marsha Thomason as SARA EVERS Jennifer Tilly as MADAME LEOTA Wallace Shawn as EZRA Rated PG Studio: Disney Directed by: Rob Minkoff Back to DVD Review Home |
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There’s something special about home video - either VHS or DVD. It’s something intoxicating. Something surreal. There’s something that makes a movie more watchable on your home television screen.
Even a film like “The Haunted Mansion” that was only so-so when I saw it in the theater is something that can be better on home video. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re not trapped in a theatre for two hours. Maybe it’s because you can hit pause, start and stop whenever you want, or even watch the entire movie over the course of several days. Maybe it’s because some films just work better on the small screen.
Whatever the reason, I liked “The Haunted Mansion” better when watching it in my own living room. It still isn’t a great film, but I enjoyed it more a second time on DVD. (Of course, since I first got the DVD, it’s been seen in my home several times more by my three year old son who demands to watch it, but ends up wanting it turned off because some parts are just a little too scary for him.)
Part of what makes “The Haunted Mansion” work on DVD better than it did in the theater is that it is basically just an overblown $90 million Disney Channel movie. The plot isn’t all that complicated and while the special effects are pretty nifty, they’re still just a lot of fluff.
Jim Evers (Eddie Murphy) is an energetic real estate agent who is a little more dedicated to his job than he is to his family. In the past few months, he’s missed several family events with Sara (Marsha Thomason) and his two kids. In an attempt to make it up to his family, Jim agrees to go on a special weekend with them, but a mysterious phone caller asks them to come by and see a house. Taking a detour from their trip, Jim heads out to the mansion.
Although the creepy butler Ramsley (Terrence Stamp) assures them that this is a simple sale for Master Gracey (Nathaniel Parker), things are much more sinister. The first big problem is that the mansion is haunted (which is not much of a surprise, considering the movie’s title). The second big problem is that the film uses an old horror movie device in which Sara is the spitting image of Master Gracey’s dead lover. The Evers must try to not only save Sara, but to escape from the mansion full of ghosts.
There are enough special features on this DVD to make it a worthwhile purchase - even if you didn’t like the film that much. Everything’s there that you would expect - a blooper reel, deleted scenes, a “Making Of” featurette and an audio commentary.
While many DVDs boast these features, most of the ones found on “The Haunted Mansion” are better than average. For example, many outtakes on other DVDs can be pretty lame, showing just a couple cases of the giggles among actors. I’ve literally seen some outtake reels on DVDs that are nothing more than two or three takes of a single flubbed line that wasn’t all that funny in the first place. The blooper reel on “The Haunted Mansion” show several different types of outtakes, some set in a montage to music.
Director Rob Minkoff is noticeably absent from the commentary track. However, producer Don Hahn, visual effects supervisor Jay Redd and writer David Berenbaum do well to fill his shoes. While they slip into watching the movie a few times, they still give a worthwhile, informative commentary.
The real nice extra feature is the “Making the Mansion” and “Anatomy of a Scene: Ghosts in the Graveyard” featurettes. These behind-the-scenes extras give nice insight into the special effects of the film. You learn some of the secrets to the ghosts, such as using glass-based paint to make them glow.
Of course, what Disney DVD wouldn’t be complete without a music video featuring one of their up-and-coming TV stars turned pop singer. “The Haunted Mansion” has a rendition of “Superstition” by Raven, which looks like it was thrown together at the last minute. It’s one of those standard features that kids might like, but as an adult, I couldn’t help thinking to myself that Raven’s gonna have to lay off the crumb cakes or she’ll be the next Nell Carter - and I’m not just talking singing talent.
The only extra that was a dud it is the Haunted Mansion Virtual Tour. Virtual tours have become very popular on Disney DVDs, finding a home on “The Lion King: Special Edition” and “The Lion King 1 1/2.” But without a wisecracking Timon and Pumbaa, the virtual tour on “The Haunted Mansion” is just dull. It is neat to be ushered through the film’s virtual set, but it takes so long to move through the mansion that I ended up turning it off out of sheer boredom. Even Wallace Shawn - one of the funnier aspects to the film - as the tour guide isn’t enough to save the trip.
But the virtual tour notwithstanding, “The Haunted Mansion” DVD is pretty darn complete. It doesn’t go beyond what you’d expect, but the features and bonuses that I tend to look for on a DVD’s jacket are better than most you’ll find out there.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. THX-certified, with optimizer. Widescreen (2.35:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions. French and Spanish language tracks; Spanish and French language subtitles; English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
