Tag Archives: Danny DeVito

Comedy, Drama, Family, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “HAUNTED MANSION” (2023) Walt Disney Pictures

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The plot of Disney’s latest foray into a ride re-do is “HAUNTED MANSION” featuring a single mom Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), and her young son Travis (Chase Dillon), who move into a new ‘old’ house in New Orleans. Once there, they hire grieving tour guide Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield), a dubious psychic Harriet (Tiffany Hadish), a shady priest Father Kent (Owen Wilson), and an unhinged historian Bruce Davis (Danny DeVito), to help exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts.


(L-R): Chase Dillon as Travis, Rosario Dawson as Gabbie, LaKeith Stanfield as Ben, Owen Wilson as Father Kent, and Tiffany Haddish as Harriet in Disney’s HAUNTED MANSION. Photo by Jalen Marlowe. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

So, it goes with this new attempt at a movie based on a popular Disney ride.  It’s chock-a-block full of inside jokes and references to the ride, some in plain sight, some tucked away in the corners of the screen.  As a big fan of the ride, one can only enjoy the little Easter eggs presented throughout and enjoy them a lot. Big fun highlights were the chair shaped like a Doom Buggy; and the room that stretches; and the hitchhiking ghosts, and on and on. If you’ve been on it, you get it. While the film tries to utilize the setting of New Orleans in some decently authentic ways, the rest of the plot and character development is so generic that they fail to make viewers more engaged in the setting. The film’s attempts at both humor and scares fall flat, as the jokes are formulaic and corny while the attempts at more frightening moments fail to elicit any tension or suspense, and are quite repetitive and CGI-heavy.

But aside from all the cool references, there is not much else to recommend, especially not for those few poor souls who are not as thoroughly familiar with the Disney ride as I and many others are.  There’s a heart-tugging sub-plot about the grieving tour guide, Ben and while it’s not meant to be comical, Stanfield’s wooden straight face playing the absurd material, trying to pull out the emotional stops for a touching moment as he describes his late wife, is almost painful to watch. It’s also one that pushes an absolute scene-stealing button from Danny DeVito. Then there is Travis, son of single mom Gabbie, who has problems with bullies at school, even when he isn’t troubled by the ghosts who have latched onto him like lice. Another is the issue of who all the resident ghosts are REALLY afraid of a big-bad ghost entity known only as the Hatbox ghost (Jared Leto). But we the audience are not. Jamie Lee Curtis steps in for a bit as Madame Leota, and she brings some decent comedic timing to this sorely lacking comedic film. Dan Levy is Vic – the new owner of the house and then there is a super surprise from Winona Ryder in a flash part as ghostly Pat. And one of my favourite little guest appearances is at the very beginning where Marilu Henner is part of a tour group. She is a wonderful flashback to the old Taxi days with DeVito.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota in Disney’s HAUNTED MANSION. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Acting ranges from good all the way down to…well…lackluster. Most of the cast does an okay job with what they were given. The high-end example is Danny DeVito. The man never seems to put less than 110% into whatever he does. At the lows is Rosario Dawson, an otherwise fine actress who looks like she just doesn’t want to be in this particular film. She shows little to no emotion even as her world is falling apart. Who knows, maybe that’s a directorial decision. LaKeith is a wonderful drama actor, but is sorely mis-cast here as he lacks the most basic of comedic timing. Dawson saves a few of scenes with the two of them, even though you know where they are headed together as character. Haddish, well she does Haddish. Nothing more, nothing less…

The movie has all the requisite creepy hallways and creaking doors and one or two iffy jump-scares, but everything is done so tongue-and-cheek that it’s never truly horrifying…which is what can be confusing. Is this meant to be scary, funny or what was the aim of the filmmakers.  Certainly, you don’t want to make a film, based on a jaunty fun theme park ride, as scary as The Exorcist.  So, to that end, the filmmakers succeeded.  The movie is harmless, even a little fun at times, Owen Wilson gets to deliver some of his trademark dry observations, and DeVito gets to play some notes that I haven’t seen him play in a very long time.  If pressed, I would be forced to conclude that, for non-fans of the ride, this movie would most likely be a bit of a slog. At over two hours long, the film also runs for too long, especially given the plot has limited resolution or payoff – but again, it has it’s ‘cute moments,’ despite missing that one leg so to speak.

Grade: C-

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“HAUNTED MANSION” FROM WALT DISNEY PICTURES IS OUT IN THEATERS FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2023

Review Screening: Monday, July 24, 2023 ~ Courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Movie Reviews, Movies

Film Review: “SMALLFOOT” (2018) – This WBA movie is good family fun – great soundtrack – but will it stand out in a crowd

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With this new addition from WBA (Warner Bros. Animation) to the animation game, this clever little spin on the BigFoot/Smallfoot switch-a-roo works fairly well in getting it’s message across. With an all-star voice over cast, that adds a wonderfully sequenced soundtrack with everyone from Channing Tatum, James Cordon, and Common & Zendaya adding their own spin of musical genres. “Smallfoot” cleverly inverts the point-of-view tale of how human and Yetis is to be told, but behind every animation movie, there is a message, and for me this one got a bit dark toned for a moment before it luckily lighted up into a nice, easily understood ending for the kids.

‘SMALLFOOT’ follows the tales of a clan of bigfoots living high up in the Himalayan mountains whose peaceful and orderly lives are disrupted when one of their own Migo (Channing Tatum), stumbles upon a a plane crash in the path of the young Yeti when he was flung off-course during gong target practice. See in Yeti mythology banging the gong raises the sun every day, to follow in his father Dorgle (Danny DeVito), footsteps. It means every morning he catapults himself headfirst towards a giant gong in order to wake the sun up. While investigating the airplane wreckage, Migo discovers a ‘smallfoot’ – a human – who is just as startled to come across the ‘mythical’ being as is the bigfoot itself. It isn’t just that these smallfoots (pssst smallfoots are humans 🙂 ) have thus far been the stuff of myth in fact, it’s that their very existence goes against the community’s long-held beliefs, which are literally set in stone and worn around the neck of the high and mighty Stonekeeper (Common). So as you can probably expect, that very individual is told to either rescind his account or face banishment from the community, but by bravely choosing the latter, opens up a whole new path of knowledge, understanding and enlightenment for his fellow 18-foot hairy denizens.

Lest you think that the movie ends up being too heavy-handed, I can reassure you that it never goes to dark for kids, or for that matter turn preachy. On the contrary, there are plenty of amusing details along the way – like how the fun-loving Migo is at first perfectly content to follow what is told, or the finding out about the S.E.S. (Smallfoot Evidentiary Society) a rebel band of Yetis led by the Stonekeeper’s own daughter Meechee (Zendaya), who assists Migo on his quest to find the Smallfoot and prove once and for all, they aren’t lying or delusional. or how Migo first runs into Percy, an animal TV show host whom is not only desperate to save his show and become famous, but he will become unlikely best buddies with Migo – who in his desperation for clicks tries to convince a fellow reporter to dress up in a Yeti costume so he can pretend to have captured one on camera.

So even though ‘Smallfoot’ never hits the gold standard of feature animations, there is plenty of fun and laughs to be had in this fable on lies and ‘myth-understandings’, as well as on mis-communication and the lack thereof. Like I said, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that its makers haven’t opted for just another superficially glossy piece of kids’ entertainment, and have instead decided to evolve the narrative in more complex and satisfying ways. I brought a 5 year old who loved it and completely understood all of it and that’s a big plus in kids movies today as not all have the younger kids in mind when made. It isn’t small or unambitious by any measure, and is in fact big on both entertainment and emotion, so you’ll find that there’s something for every member of the family – big or small – in this delightful celebration of wonder, discovery and truth.

Grade: C+
@pegsatthemovies

Media Review Screening: Saturday, September 22, 2018 ~ Courtesy of Warner Bros.
“SMALLFOOT IS OUT NATIONWIDE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 // WORLDWIDE RELEASE FOLLOWING IN OCTOBER 2018