Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Muppets Haunted Mansion

Hi ho everyone, and welcome foolish mortals to a very special impromptu addition of Deep Dive Disney. I know I promised you all we’d be doing the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie next, but frankly, covering two nearly three-hour movies in a row is not an attractive prospect, and since this little number just dropped on Disney+ and it is the season of Halloween, I thought I’d strike while the iron is hot. And no, this is not my official Halloween special that I alluded to a little while ago. That is scheduled to drop on the 31st. Anywho, I love the Muppets. I have since I was old enough to understand the concept of movies and television. And why not, these are timeless characters that have endured and continued to make us all laugh for nearly half a century. Not surprising since they were born from the mind of one of the true geniuses of our time, Jim Henson. I hope to cover some more Muppet movies in the future, but we’ll get there when we get there. For now we have this. When this special was announced, back in April, naturally I was hyped, just as I usually am for any new Muppet project, even if said project turns out depressingly underwhelming *cough* Muppets Now *cough*. Not only are we getting some brand-new Muppets content, but it’s also a Halloween special that pays tribute to one of the most iconic attractions of the Disney theme parks, The Haunted Mansion. While Disney’s last attempt at making a film out of the popular ride was a swing and a miss, adding the Muppets into the mix could only be an improvement. So, what’s our story? Well, Gonzo the Great and Pepe the King Prawn are skipping the annual Muppets Halloween party to take part in a special Halloween challenge. Gonzo is never one to miss out on a daring feat after all, and Pepe is just here because he thinks it’s a fancy party with a bunch of Hollywood types. The challenge: spend the night in the haunted mansion where Gonzo’s idol, a magician known as The Great MacGuffin, disappeared. However, Gonzo and Pepe soon get a lot more than they bargain for as the nine-hundred and ninety-nine happy haunts come out to play and our heroes must face their fears before they’re trapped in the mansion forever. Since this special literally came out today as I'm writing this, warning, there will be spoilers. With that in mind, join me if you dare, as I dive right into Muppets Haunted Mansion.

Main Character:

Our focal point character this time around is everyone’s favorite fuzzy blue long-nosed chicken loving daredevil, The Great Gonzo! And what do you really want me to say, Gonzo, who’s one of my favorite Muppets behind Kermit The Frog himself, is just as lovably weird and weirdly lovable as he’s always been. I actually really love that Gonzo finds all the creepy stuff in the mansion really cool, because of course he would. This is someone who has been skydiving without a parachute into a vat of hot pudding while playing Ode to Joy on the kazoo. It’s going to take more than a few ghosts to scare the Great Gonzo. However, in this special, we learn what Gonzo’s truly afraid of, and it’s a doozy. See, Gonzo is scared that he has to keep performing these daring feats in order for people to love him, and yet, his friends love him no matter what… and he bailed on the Halloween party. It’s actually a nice bit of insight for the character. Not something I was expecting from a silly little Halloween special.

Villain:

We can’t have a movie about The Haunted Mansion without including its most famous and most frightening resident. Taraji P. Henson plays the one and only Constance Hatchaway, otherwise simply known as, The Bride, and she’s looking to make poor Pepe her latest husband… and latest victim. While Henson’s performance is mostly over the top and played for laughs, she does get more than a few moments where she’s genuinely creepy, especially when her eyes glow red and she places Pepe under some kind of hypnotic spell. They even included her glowing red heart, nice touch.

Side Characters:

Well, this is a Muppet production, so all of our favorite Muppets play the role various Happy Haunts. We have Fozzie as The Hatbox Ghost, Rowlf as the Piano playing ghost, Piggy as Madame Leota, Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem as The Phantom Five and much MUCH more. We even get appearances from Muppets who haven’t been seen in a long time such as Mulch the Zombie, Dr. Phil Van Neuter, Johnny Fiama and more. And on top of that, it wouldn’t be a Muppet production without celebrity cameos out the ass. Will Arnett plays the Ghost Host and he’s a blast in the role, especially when it’s revealed at the end that he was actually The Great MacGuffin all along. Other celebrities who join in on the haunting include Danny Trejo, Alfonso Ribeiro, Chrissy Metz, Yvette Nicole Brown, Pat Sajak and Craig Robinson. However, one cameo I’d like to call special attention to is Ed Asner, who sadly passed away only a few months ago. If you’ve been reading my work for a long time, you’ll recall how I would frequently praise Ed for his role as Hudson from Gargoyles and I’m glad to see him on screen one last time.

Songs:

We got plenty of good songs in this one. I don’t exactly see any of them making anyone’s top Muppet songs lists, but they’re not too bad. A song about how Gonzo is going to die from all the Muppefied Happy Haunts and a decent villain song from Taraji P. Henson aren’t too shabby. Also, given our film’s location, there’s no way we’re not getting treated to a stirring rendition of Grim Grinning Ghosts in a lovely scene where all the celebrity cameos come out to socialize. However, my favorite part of the movie, musically speaking, is how it opens and closes with a rendition of King Harvest’s Dancing in the Moon Light. What can I say, I love that song.

Memorable Scenes:

I’d just love to take a moment to acknowledge all the awesome references to the classic ride throughout. They’re far too numerous to list all of them here, but we have so many scenes that just feel like they’re right out of the ride. We have the stretching portraits, the singing busts, the creepy eyes on the wall and so much more. We even get a cameo by the hitchhiking ghosts at the end. It’s clear that this was a love letter to the classic attraction and some of the sets look like they were filmed right on the ride. There’s so much love and attention to detail in this production. They even have this funny bit where Statler and Waldorf are in one of the ride vehicles and we get one of a reference to what happens when the ride stops. Cool!

Story:

Well, the story is all about the importance of facing one’s fears and realizing that you don’t have to be truly great to be great in the eyes of those who love you. A pretty deep message for a forty-five-minute special on Disney+. It’s not really explored in too much detail given the length of the special, but it’s still there and it’s still nice to see.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Well, when you’re making a movie about The Haunted Mansion, it only makes sense that this production is filmed to the brim with creepy stuff, much of which we’ve already discussed, but some stuff we still haven’t gotten to. We have Gonzo enter a special room where he’s forced to face his greatest fear, growing old alone and never seeing his friends again. To illustrate this, we see Gonzo age up into a disturbing and decrepit version of himself. That was nice and unsettling. We see that there’s some kind of Giant monster in the basement of the mansion that nearly eats Gonzo. We don’t ever see what it looks like, just eyes and teeth. Yikes! And my favorite part of the entire movie, Pepe walks into a room where John Stamos is just sitting there with a glass of champagne. He and Pepe hang out for a bit until John Stamos reveals that he’s actually a horrible monster, scaring Pepe out of his wits. Now, I admittedly haven’t ridden the Haunted Mansion ride since I was four years old, but I sure as hell don’t remember the part of the ride where we meet a demonic John Stamos. Maybe Disney should add that.

Final Thoughts: Muppets Haunted Mansion was a delight from start to finish and I'm quite grateful to have experienced it. This feels like a real return to form for the Muppets, containing all the fun and hearts that many say the franchise has been lacking in recent years. On top of that, it was a loving tribute to one of the most famous rides of the Disney Theme Parks. It kind of makes me want to see Walt Disney World do an overlay of the ride which actually does feature the Muppets. Hey, if Disneyland can do it for Nightmare Before Christmas, I don't see why Muppets wouldn't work. In any case, I hope you all enjoyed this little impromptu article of mine. Next time, we cover the next Pirates of Caribbean film, for real this time.