The Haunted Mansion

A Disney theme-park ride provided a winning inspiration for Pirates of the Caribbean, but this movie can't escape the limitations of its funfair origins. Eddie Murphy plays a workaholic estate agent who interrupts the family holiday for a visit to a potential sale - a vast mansion that turns out to be haunted by a lovelorn ghost. Director Rob Minkoff (Stuart Little) simply fills in the gaps between the popular ride's best known sections - such as the disembodied head of Madame Leota (a spirited Jennifer Tilly) and some ethereal ballroom dancers - with Murphy's unfunny mugging. If sumptuous photography and lavish production design were all a family-friendly horror comedy needed to get by, this would qualify as an inoffensive hit. However, its uninspired catalogue of fright-less genre clichés fails to conjure even a suspicion of eerie atmosphere.