By John Corrado

★★½ (out of 4)

Disney’s Haunted Mansion is the latest movie based on one of their theme park rides, while also serving as a reboot of their maligned 2003 film The Haunted Mansion.

Directed by Justin Simien (Dear White People, Bad Hair), this is a slightly more “serious” take on the material than the very comedic version from twenty years ago starring Eddie Murphy.

While Simien’s film is still laced with humour, he is also working from a screenplay by Katie Dippold that ties in some themes about grief and loss. The results are somewhat mixed, but Haunted Mansion often works well enough as a theme park ride movie, even if never quite rising to the level of best in class.

What mainly keeps this version grounded is the leading work of LaKeith Stanfield, who stars as Ben Matthias, an astrophysicist who takes over as a ghost tour guide in Louisiana following his partner’s death. When single mother Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) moves into an old mansion with her son Travis (Chase W. Dillon), they soon realize that the place is haunted, and Ben gets recruited by Father Kent (Owen Wilson) to photograph the ghosts in order to provide proof. What they discover is that the place is filled with ghosts; 999 of them, to be precise.

The best thing that could probably be said about Haunted Mansion is that it works as a pretty good haunted house movie for kids. The film is just spooky enough for younger viewers, while still being enjoyable enough for adults, with a lot of fun little Easter Eggs that pay tribute to the ride. The bones of the story are very much taken from the Disney World ride and the lore surrounding it, which will be the main appeal for fans of the attraction and its Grim Grinning Ghosts.

That said, the plot itself is still somewhat thin, and feels stretched even thinner at just over two hours, ultimately becoming a bit of an effects-heavy gumbo in the last act that slightly overshadows some of the film’s weightier themes. It’s Stanfield who elevates the material with his more textured performance, hinting at what could have been an even better version of this movie.

The rest of the supporting cast members have fun with their roles, and do keep the film enjoyable to watch. Wilson steals every scene as the opportunistic priest, as does Tiffany Hadish as spirit medium Harriet. The ensemble is rounded out by Danny DeVito as an eccentric history professor, Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota, and Jared Leto as the Hat-Box Ghost. This is a theme park ride film through and through, but it’s okay enough to just squeak by as a piece of summer entertainment, mainly thanks to the best efforts of its cast.

Haunted Mansion is now playing exclusively in theatres.