Follow the ‘More’ link to read the Animated News review of Disney’s upcoming DVD and video title, The Haunted Mansion, which is due out in the U.S. on April 20.

The movie behind Disney’s next big DVD release has been seen as somewhat of an underdog when compared to Pirates of the Caribbean, which is on a grander and more epic scale. While the comparison is undoubtedly inevitable hopefully it will not blind anyone to all that The Haunted Mansion has to offer. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean five times in the theater and only saw The Haunted Mansion once but watching it on DVD recently and sampling many of the bonus materials has increased my appreciation of it. Even if you have never been on the ride we all know or can guess the basic story of the movie. In fact it is much like any episode of Scooby Doo: a group of run-of-the-mill suburbanites get trapped in a haunted house and find they all have a mystery to solve; they split up into various groups, find different clues, regroup and reveal the villain and everyone else goes home happy. So I will focus on three apects of the DVD that I found to be very worthwhile or just plain, unadulterated fun: the audio commentary, the History of the Haunted Mansion Attraction featurette, and the Morphing Ghost Host Maker.

The Audio Commentary: The audio commentary that accompanies this disc is provided by producer Don Hahn, visual effects supervisor Jay Redd, and scriptwriter David Berenbaum. It never gets boring, is always insightful (for example, the tiki bar in the beginning of the film is meant to represent Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room and there are characters in the background of that scene who show up as ghosts later on in the movie), and features plenty of Don Hahn’s wry, dry, and spry sense of humor. It also points out the care and attention to detail that went into every aspect of making this film, from the story and its backstory, to the immense effort put into creating authentic sets, to the many makeup and visual effects used throughout the movie.

The History of the Haunted Mansion Attraction featurette: This is a must-have for any fan of the ride. It is much like the respective Pirates of the Caribbean one where Walt Disney himself gives a tour to the camera crew of the attraction while it is under development. It shows how the attraction was originally meant to be a walk-through until the 1964 World’s Fair came along and showed that they could carry visitors through the attraction by a looping conveyor belt of “Doom Buggies.” It also shows some of the animatronic effects being put together and discusses some of the early rumors surrounding the Haunted Mansion, such as the one that suggested that Walt used it as a second home in order to get away from the public eye from time to time.

The Morphing Ghost Host Maker: I have tried two or three times in the past to use DVD-ROM features that came with other movies and always gave up in disgust when nothing ever quite worked in the way that it seemed that it should. With this DVD, however, I was able to start using the Morphing Ghost Host Maker right away and found it very easy to use and fun to experiment with. This feature allows you to take a photo of you or a friend and have it morph into four of the characters from the movie: a hitchhiking ghost, a ghost butler, a zombie, and a singing bust. I have included two of yours truly at the end of this article.

Even Ghosts Have to Hitchhike	There Was One Bust That Never Sang