The Haunted Mansion (2003) - Haunted house ride adaptation an FX-driven slumber

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A cobweb-dressed mansion entrance lures prospective audiences on this poster for Rob Minkoff's The Haunted Mansion

Jim Evers is a realtor with a busy career, who has difficulty finding time to see his family, who therefore are forced to spend their family weekend visiting a large estate in Louisiana that 'the big man' intends to sell ...

 

The Haunted Mansion is written by David Berenbaum (Elf (2003)) and directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King (1994, co-director)). It is based on Disney's theme park ride of the same name.

Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)) is so lovable and funny that one is happy at the outset of The Haunted Mansion, which bodes well for this ride-inspired studio creation. The family vs. work conflict, however, vanishes as various more or less stupid and unimpressive 'horror' special effects are unleashed within the house. Here also Terence Stamp (Crow (2016)) delivers a laconic butler performance with an excessive British accent. 

The Haunted Mansion; (not really that) close - and definitely no cigar!

 

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Rob Minkoff: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) - Vexing, over-stimulated time-travel adaptation

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 90 mil. $

Box office: 182.2 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.02 times its cost)

[The Haunted Mansion was released 26 November (North America) and runs 87 minutes. Shooting took place from December 2002 - April 2003 in New Orleans, Louisiana and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 34 mil. $ 5 day-long Thanksgiving opening weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#3), grossing 75.8 mil. $ (41.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 29.7 mil. $ (16.3 %) and the UK with 14.8 mil. $ (8.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. The film was remade by Disney as Haunted Mansion (2023) to a much steeper flop result. Minkoff returned with The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). Murphy returned with voice performances in Shrek 2 (2004) and 2 Shrek 2-related productions prior to his physical theatrical return in Dreamgirls (2006). The Haunted Mansion is rotten at 13 % with a 4.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Haunted Mansion?

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) - Vexing, over-stimulated time-travel adaptation

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The infernal poster for Rob Minkoff's Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Mr. Peabody is the dog who's the adoptive father of the boy genius Sherman, and they have a time machine, which is used to give the boy history-lessons. But now a woman wants to remove the boy from Mr. Peabody, - and there's also a mess in time!
Mr. Peabody is a disappointing adaptation of the 1960's animated TV-series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, which doesn't catch the otherwise inviting, original idea to make a fantastic film. It would have been more of a bother making, surely, had this been the live-action feature that the man behind it, Rob Minkoff (The Lion King (1994)) had originally wanted, (and worked against at least since 2003), but it would also had been a lot more fun to watch, I speculate.
Instead we are here served an animated children's adventure comedy that feels uninspired, calculated and like a bowl of nonsense. The film seems to regard itself as smart because it includes historic figures and locations, with added laugh-less, idiotic comedy. To make it all worse, the two title characters are both irritating know-it-alls and the film is overloaded with dialog.
The kids might like this, but do yourself a favor and steer way clear of this 3D dud that has otherwise received mostly (mysteriously) positive notices. It did, however, bomb commercially, (a movie with this kind of budget has to make a lot back to avoid losses), which resulted in a 57 mil. write-down for DreamWorks Animation.
Minkoff has announced his next film, an action movie entitled Chinese Odyssey. 

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch the trailer here, which is A LOT better than the film, unfortunately

Budget: 145 mil. $
Box office: 268.7 mil. $
= Flop

What do you think of Mr. Peabody & Sherman?
Did it rub you the wrong way, as it did me?