Tag: Rosario Dawson

Enter Disney’s Completely Watered Down Haunted Mansion, If You Dare.

Disney should have turned Haunted Mansion into an anthology series much like the printed material instead of making an one off work.

Disney's Haunted Mansion 2023 Film PosterSpoiler Alert

The only notable difference I saw between the two cinematic presentations of Disney’s Haunted Mansion is where the humour comes from. Instead of making the popular comedian of the time the laughingstock of the show, they’ve been made into supporting characters. Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson and Danny DeVito make for a terrific team up, but that isn’t enough to make this film a success.

In this reboot, Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield) and Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) are now the focus. The former was an astrophysicist who lost his wife in a car accident, and the latter is raising a 9-year-old son who misses daddy greatly. It’s implied they separated, but as for whether he’s alive or dead, that’s easy to guess. The latter moved to Louisiana to set up a B&B and hopefully leave that life they lost behind.

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Going Beyond the Brick with LEGO Batman

cym_yo1w8aqqn_zBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

I very rarely get excited about all the toys released along with an animated film. With How to Train Your Dragon, the variety of reptiles seen on-screen only salivated my appetite for owning a model of each because I love the designs. In the movie, LEGO Batman, I got giddy over the garage full of vehicles the caped crusader uses in his fight against crime and if only I had a couple of thousand dollars. Buying the bricks is not cheap because a lot of the money goes towards name brand recognition and licensing rights than manufacture. All reason went out the window when I saw Scutter, Batman’s mech change from robot mode to airplane.

Can I hope the model does the same? I’ll have to look at YouTube videos to find out, or just buy it. I caved and bought the set, not only because I liked the personality given to it, and enjoyed how the film gave to fans a perfect examination of two properties. Not only did it examine why the man behind the cowl is what he is but also it stayed true to what the brick represents. It’s become more than a kid’s construction toy and it helps creates a foundation to spur creativity.

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