Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021)

October 13, 2021 5:30 AM

On Halloween night, Gonzo and Pepe ditch Kermit’s annual Halloween party to instead spend a night in the Haunted Mansion of Disney Park fame

from The Playlist: In “Muppets Haunted Mansion,” daredevil Gonzo (Dave Goelz) and trusty sidekick Pepe (Bill Barretta) are drawn into a mystery when they agree to spend the night in the Haunted Mansion, the Disney attraction that first opened in Disneyland in 1969. A famous magician went missing there many years before, and Gonzo, out of thrills after years of defying death, blows off a Halloween party being thrown by his friends Kermit (Matt Vogel) and Miss Piggy (Eric Jacobson) for the opportunity of some real scares. Of course, everything goes haywire and Gonzo learns some important lessons about friendship and the real values of Halloween.

posted by jazon (5 comments total)

As a fan of both the Muppets and the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, I was oddly excited for this. It has very much a made for TV movie Muppet vibe (i.e. pacing, plot, character cameos, songs, etc.), so do not expect this to be anything more than that. That's not to say it's not a fun ride (pun, intended). I enjoyed the jokes, set design, songs, and nods to the ride. But I think a lot of why I liked it was because I'm a big fan of the ride. If I wasn't a fan of the ride or had never been on it, I really do not think I would have liked it as much. I really think you have to be both a Muppets and Haunted Mansion ride fan to get into it and have a good time.
posted by wasabifooting at 8:12 AM on October 13, 2021 [1 favorite]

Huge fan of the original Muppets (hearing non-Jim Henson Kermit makes me cringe with sadness), and I've never been on the Disneyland ride, but I really liked this. I thought it captured 1970s Muppet Show manic weirdness that's been missing from post-Jim Henson projects. It was a decent blend of classic and new Muppets (I especially liked the new fern and goat puppets). The humans looked like they had fun too. Taraji P. Henson in particular has a terrific scenery-chewing role.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 10:41 AM on October 13, 2021 [1 favorite]

I liked the goat a lot--I got a good honest laugh out of it, and it reminded me of the time I have spent watching random shrieking-goat videos.

I also liked the muppet design when Gonzo undergoes his change in room 999--I thought it was really quite creepy.
posted by theatro at 1:51 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

Thought this was so much fun-of course, it combines two of my favorite things. Totally recommend.
posted by purenitrous at 7:57 PM on October 14, 2021

I waited to watch this until Halloween but I thought it was quite fun. I've only ridden the Haunted Mansion ride once, 20-ish years ago, but even with that context mostly faded from memory it was still more Muppet-y than almost anything else Disney has done with them -- it even had a ballroom dance skit, and Wayne and Wanda!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:38 AM on November 1, 2021