Haunted Mansion review.<br /><br />Summary: Eddie Murphy plays Jim Evers, a self-employed real estate that cares enough for his wife and family that he sometimes works too hard at providing for them and neglects his parental/husband duties, in pursuit of earning a better life for his family overall. To this end, he brings his family to a what could be a huge deal that could really benefit them all; selling a sizeable mansion out of town. It turns out that the place is haunted and all manner of ghostly high-jinks ensue as the family seeks to unravel the mystery of the Haunted Mansion.<br /><br />I believe that Eddie Murphy did very well with the role that he was given. Unfortunately move-makers try too hard to make fathers seem "bad" in todays movies that Eddie's character seemed rather "forced". I mean, he is frequently portrayed as caring for his family, seeing to their needs, teaching them about things in life like "facing your fears", yet Hollywood cant seem to have a positive father role-model these days. Jim Evers is victim to the standard negative movie father cliches: He works too hard providing for the family that he neglects them, then bumbles his way trying to make amends for this.<br /><br />The movie overall had a decent story about two lovers that were ill-fated (similar to a Romeo and Juliet type of story) and have doomed a mansion and its ground to perpetual purgertory. The special effects are great. Marsha Tomason does a great job as Sara Evers. Nathaniel Parker and Terence Stamp do a great job as Master Gracey and the butler Ramsley. The child actors to a decent job, but are hardly oscar-winning performers. Jennifer Tilly is awesome as Madam Leota and Wallace Shawn and Dina Spybey are excellent as the servants that try to assist the Evers family.<br /><br />The set design is superb and the ghostly special effects are really good. The story is rather simplistic, which makes it great for kids, but interesting enough with enough humor to make it worthwhile for adults to enjoy. This is not the type of movie that a group of teenagers looking for a horror flick would enjoy or a group of rowdy adults. This is a movie that is great for a family.<br /><br />Rating: Family movie: 8 out of 10. As a "general" movie: 6 out of 10.