Haunted Mansion
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: July 28, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 52 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
31
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
PolygonPetrana RadulovicJul 28, 2023
It’s basically a checklist of the most beloved items from the Disney park attraction. But here’s the thing: It kinda works? Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithJul 28, 2023
At its best it’s entertaining in a quaint, late-’60s way, which makes it a pleasant summer surprise. Read full review
60
CNNBrian LowryJul 27, 2023
Disney’s latest renovation of “Haunted Mansion” is certainly clever in building off the foundation of the theme-park ride, with a darker streak than the last stab 20 years ago that starred Eddie Murphy. Yet even with a solid cast yielding good moments, there’s a general flatness to it, and a sense the movie is seeking to scare up what it can in theaters before settling into its natural haunting grounds on Disney+. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 25, 2023
While the visual effects are surprisingly weak for a film of this scale, the script (from “Ghostbusters” writer Katie Dippold) proves far better than anyone might expect, establishing an emotional foundation for what might otherwise be a gimmick-driven haunted house movie. Read full review
51
The Film VerdictWilliam BibbianiJul 25, 2023
This new Haunted Mansion feels like a real movie (even if it’s rarely a good one) instead of a chaotic cavalcade of bad jokes and whatever the cinematographic equivalent of “shrill” is. (If nothing else, we can say this is the best haunted house remake Owen Wilson has ever been in.) Read full review
50
Little White LiesLeila LatifAug 14, 2023
Ultimately, the wonderful family movie in here that’s screaming to get out is hopelessly trapped in Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Read full review
50
Film ThreatJosiah TealJul 30, 2023
Casting and premise are Haunted Mansion‘s greatest strengths, though many of the best ensemble moments or narrative choices are fleeting. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 28, 2023
Disney’s new Haunted Mansion is a hot mess, but it’s a sporadically entertaining one. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredCharlotte SimmonsJul 28, 2023
A marked improvement over the similarly-titled 2003 film, 'Haunted Mansion' nevertheless falls at too many self-imposed hurdles to make the most of what should have been a self-sufficient recipe. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeyton RobinsonJul 28, 2023
With a repeated sourness in the film’s comedic efforts and a tragically misused ensemble, Haunted Mansion misses the chance to become a Halloween classic. Read full review
50
ABC NewsPeter TraversJul 28, 2023
It could have been worse, but that’s no excuse for turning an exciting nine-minute theme-park ride into an overlong, star-stuffed 122 minute feature that is only fitfully funny and scary and soon wears out its welcome. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJul 27, 2023
Waffling Disney can’t decide if it wants this thing to be a quirky and fun but unsettling movie like “Beetlejuice,” with some real guts and creativity, or another schlocky ad for a Disney World FastPass. At times Simien’s film is surprisingly dark and emotionally honest, while at others it’s kitschier than “The Country Bear Jamboree.” Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 26, 2023
It’s not a bad movie but it is too long and lifeless for what amounts to a two-hour commercial for a three-minute ride. Even the wait time to get into one of the moving chairs doesn’t take as long as watching the film. Read full review
50
The Associated PressLindsey BahrJul 26, 2023
Haunted Mansion is by no means a terrible movie, or even an unpleasant watch, but it’s just missing the magic that makes the trip to the theaters (or Disney World) worth it. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 25, 2023
But “harmless” is a hard sell to hang on a two hour comedy with too-few laughs and a scary movie with no edgy frights. Read full review
50
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJul 25, 2023
Haunted Mansion does at least represent a small measure of progress for Hollywood. People always complain that studios remake beloved movies — which do not need improvement — when it would be wiser to remake a movie that contained the kernel of a good idea but failed in the execution. Haunted Mansion is absolutely a remake of a bad movie, and it does represent a slight improvement over the previous version. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJul 25, 2023
Ultimately, Haunted Mansion feels like the ghost of a movie — just a fleeting shadow, one you can barely remember in the morning. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineGregory NussenJul 25, 2023
The film handily invokes the campiness of the iconic Disneyland attraction, if not its kinetics. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonJul 25, 2023
The movie at times feels like an eternal cycle of the nine-minute ride, which loses its luster after 123 of those minutes. It offers you this chilling challenge—find a way out! Better yet, refrain from being the mortal foolish enough to enter in the first place. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 25, 2023
The material simply isn’t strong or self-interested enough to support a cast as rich as the one Simien assembles here, a fact made all the more obvious by the director’s natural facility for staging ensemble comedy in the face of mortal danger. Read full review
41
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJul 25, 2023
Simien is no doubt a talented storyteller – his work on Dear White People, both the film and Netflix series, is evidence enough. But his vision here is clouded by corporate obligations and a woefully weak script by Katie Dippold, who herself is much funnier in every one of her other projects. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeAug 14, 2023
This is a grimly efficient IP cash-in that defuses any potential scares with a hot-pink colour palette and a bunch of oddly specific and distracting product placements. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeAug 10, 2023
There is some spirited work from a consistently fine cast. DeVito cannot fail to be funny. Stanfield delivers a performance more suited to a less-compromised film. Even they cannot save this fatally compromised farrago from sinking into the swamp. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 27, 2023
[Simien] keeps things moving along, more or less, and the appealing cast hit their marks, but it’s dispiriting to see him directing what is effectively a feature-length Disney promotion. I hope it’s his last big-studio ad. Read full review
40
EmpireKim NewmanJul 26, 2023
Resembling a kids’-birthday-party remake of 1973's The Legend Of Hell House, this suffers from being not that funny or spooky. Its saving grace is a cast you’re happy to spend time with. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJul 25, 2023
The experience is a little like being stuck in a Doom Buggy on a day when the ride is very stop-start. The flow of the attraction collapses, becoming individual cool designs but not a story. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonJul 25, 2023
Despite an appealing cast and some nicely executed moments (not to mention some direct references to the original attraction) Dear White People director Justin Simien’s third feature is mostly a dispiriting experience. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJul 25, 2023
This spooky theme-park spin-off has its moments, but the plot is creakier than the floorboards, and why is it over two hours long? Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJul 25, 2023
At a running time of over two hours, the experience eventually feels as wearisome as riding the same ride over and over again. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJul 25, 2023
While there are a few chuckles to be had here, mostly courtesy of Wilson’s gee-willikers delivery, the rest of the cast fares worse, including Haddish, whose bumbling clairvoyant is stuck cracking moldy jokes about PayPal and CVS. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 25, 2023
Lakeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson and Jamie Lee Curtis cannot save this laborious story of a creepy old dwelling and the awful Hatbox Ghost. Read full review
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