Haunted Mansion review: LaKeith Stanfield elevates the tonal unevenness of a Disney theme park movie
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Disney, arguably the king of IP in the current Hollywood landscape, has had varying degrees of success when it comes to spinning movies out of its theme park rides (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is sublime; Country Bears, not so much).
Its latest — and second — take on the Haunted Mansion attraction falls squarely in the middle of these efforts. LaKeith Stanfield's central performance elevates Haunted Mansion, out July 28.
Stanfield stars as Ben Matthias, an astrophysicist turned reluctant tour guide who is haunted by the death of his wife. His sullen, booze-soaked days are disrupted when Father Kent (Owen Wilson) shows up at his doorstep, offering him $2,000 to help a mother and son — Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and Travis (Chase Dillon) — deal with their very haunted new house. Of course Ben is a non-believer, until a ghost follows him home, sending him on a hare-brained adventure to recruit an academic (Danny DeVito) and a medium (Tiffany Haddish) to help the ensemble rid the house of the evil spirits that live there.
Jalen Marlowe/disney Tiffany Haddish, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, and Danny DeVito in 'Haunted Mansion'
Stanfield and Dillon are the standouts here, the two mortals so haunted by their grief that they're just as stuck as the ghosts terrorizing them. If Barbie, based on a doll, is a movie with powerful commentary on the patriarchy and existential dread, then Haunted Mansion, based on a Disney Parks attraction, is a meditation on the crippling power of grief and suicidal ideation. Or at least, it wants to be.
But Disney tries to have its cake and eat it too, inducing tonal whiplash in Katie Dippold's otherwise emotionally resonant script. For every breakdown by Stanfield poised to move audiences to tears, there's a wry aside from Wilson or an intrusive one-liner from Haddish. Stanfield's Ben and Dillon's Travis are grappling with very real demons, yet the mansion is full of recognizably goofy spirits, including Jared Leto's sneering Hatbox Ghost.
Jalen Marlowe/disney Jamie Lee Curtis in 'Haunted Mansion'
Justin Simien (Dear White People) is a promising director, one who was clearly interested in exploring loss, the afterlife, and the complicated relationships between New Orleans' history, the region's racial make-up, and cultural differences in our responses to death. But while he, Dippold, and their leading man are able to insert startling moments of pathos, they can't quite overcome the Disney remit.
That's not to say that plenty of that stuff isn't fun too. Simien and his production team craft a delightful recreation of some of Haunted Mansion's most famous rooms, apparitions, and sight gags. Production designer Darren Gilford also deserves credit for delighting in the pinks, purples, and greens of the afterlife, rather than opting for a spectral lack of color.
Jalen Marlowe/Disney Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, and Tiffany Haddish in 'Haunted Mansion'
Jamie Lee Curtis is clearly having a ghoulishly good time chewing scenery as head-in-a-crystal-ball Madame Leota, while Leto (this time unrecognizable thanks to visual effects rather than a method acting crash diet) revels in portraying his own dastardly devil. If Haddish, Wilson, and DeVito aren't doing anything particularly new, their comedic stylings shot them to stardom for a reason — and they deliver dutifully. Simien even directs Haddish into a performance that exhibits admirable restraint when it comes to her unpredictable improvisational approach.
It's Dawson who gets the raw deal here. Presumably, she should be central to the plot, as the mother of a young son who lands them both in a haunted residence. But the film prioritizes the surrogate-father and son relationship between Ben and Travis, so Dawson's Gabbie is largely an afterthought, left to fret and wring her hands. The heavy emphasis on her role's status as a single mom does her no favors, particularly in her dowdy-to-the-point-of-distracting costuming and styling.
Jalen Marlowe/disney Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddish, and LaKeith Stanfield in Disney's 'Haunted House'
Stanfield should be a bigger movie star by now. His wiry frame and handsome face belie the consistently interesting choices he makes as a performer. He's been working steadily since 2013's Short Term 12, stealing scenes in everything from Get Out to Selma to Knives Out while leading quirkier projects such as Sorry to Bother You. He earned an Oscar nomination for his work in Judas and the Black Messiah, and Haunted Mansion proves his ability to deliver expressive, meaningful work across any project.
There's a touching, deeply philosophical movie here under the witchy wisecracks and genuine scares — a heartbreaking examination of the ways in which grief and loss are their own hauntings, far more frightening and paralyzing than things that go bump in the night. The film also offers a spirited, genuinely amusing twist on a beloved Disney ride that both pays winking tribute to its history and creates a new, inspired mythology.
But Haunted Mansion can't decide what it wants to be — perhaps because of too much executive interference, perhaps because it's hard to make a funny, entertaining, family film about death. Much like its namesake, Haunted Mansion is an enjoyable, if somewhat sedate experience that is more spooky diversion than thrill ride. Grade: B-
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