'Mansion' just as boring as the ride

The Haunted Mansion definitely has beautiful looking production design but a storyline so clichéd it seems to have been written while the scriptwriter was waiting in the rides line.\nJim Evers (Murphy) and his wife are real estate agents. Despite a vacation, he drags his whole family to the spooky Gracey Manor where a huge rainstorm traps them with the seemingly odd Lord Gracey (Nathaniel Parker) and his butler Ramsley (Terence Stamp). Here they uncover layers of a centuries old mystery involving love, betrayal, and of course -- ghosts.\nIt seems that the set was built first and the story written around it leading to gaping holes, everything works out too conveniently. For example, there is Madame Leota (Jennifer Tilly), a floating head inside a magic ball, who guides the Evers in their quest to uncover the mystery. If Lord Gracey knew she was there why didn't she ever expose the truth to him? \nTruth be told the whole thing is a little too Disney, too light-hearted to be serious and too sugarcoated to be scary. Wow, exactly like the ride. Just don't get caught this time standing in line for another letdown.