The Haunted Mansion

Harried real estate agent (Murphy) takes his wife and two tots to a creepy old estate in New Orleans, only to discover - as if it were in doubt - that it's a house of the dead. Soon enough, he and the kids must buckle up to rescue mom (Thomason) from the affections of a smitten ghost (Parker), who sees in the missus a striking resemblance to his long lost love. Though the script alludes to the troubled history of interracial affairs in the ante-bellum South, it takes pains to keep this potential plotline under wraps. Once the family's separated, the movie deteriorates into a series of chases through the cobwebs, with admittedly impressive effects work, but little else to commend it. Too lame for adults and too scary for the little ones, Minkoff's Disney film is neither horror movie nor kids' pic. And Murphy's inability to conjure a star turn from his own bright past is the final nail in the coffin.