No boo's for this 'Haunted Mansion'

Disney's back to turn their iconic ride into a film 20 years after their first attempt and I certainly didn't boo this time.

With a script by Katie Dippold, based on the Disney ride, The Haunted Mansion, and directed by Justin Simien, this film achieves a good balance of laughs and scares for the younger viewers.

A single mom named Gabbie hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest, and a historian to help exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering it's inhabited by ghosts.

Trailer courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Rosario Dawson stars as Gabbie, a single mom looking to turn the titular Haunted Mansion into a bed and breakfast in Louisiana. She's joined by Chase Dillon as her son, Travis.

Dillon is a standout in this film. Child actors get a bad rap, but Dillon perfectly conveys the anxiety, sadness, and fear of a boy from a broken family in a new place.

The side characters are played by a slew of big names with equally big performances.

You've got Owen Wilson as Father Kent, LaKeith Stanfield as Ben Matthias, a ghost photographer, Danny DeVito as Bruce Davis, a history professor, Tiffany Haddish as Harriet, a medium, along with Jamie Lee Curtis as Madam Leota and Jared Leto as the villainous Box Hat Ghost, Crump.

The film moves quickly, which is appropriate for a film based on a ghostly thrill ride.

When Gabbie and her son Travis arrive at the old mansion ready to turn it into a bed and breakfast, we quickly see paranormal activity witnessed by the young boy. Gabbie tries to calm him when she then sees a ghostly suit of armor sneak up behind her.

The two frantically leave the house and drive away.

The duo ends up back at the mansion and have called on Father Kent to perform an exorcism. This fails, which causes Kent to contact Ben, a man who's supposedly created a camera that can photograph ghosts via their ghost particles.

A domino effect occurs which drags in the medium, Harriet, and history professor, Bruce Davis.

The group finds themselves trapped within the property of the haunted mansion, due to the ghosts latching onto them when they leave. The ghouls scare them back to the property.

The crux of the story is that the ghosts work for an evil ghost, Crump, the Box Hat Ghost, who needs 1000 souls to escape the mansion's grounds and wreak havoc amongst the earth.

He already has 999 souls. The ghosts that reside within.

The group tries multiple plans to stop the Box Hat Ghost, all to no avail. That is, until the group come across Madam Leota, a medium trapped in her own crystal ball. She reveals there's a spell in her book to vanquish the evil spirit.

At this point the film feels like a fun Scooby-Doo plot, and that's not a bad thing. How many ways can you tell a story based on an amusement park ride? It's fun and spooky, but not terrifying by any means.

There's even a point where Owen Wilson runs down a never-ending hallway through random doors with a hoard of ghosts following as they exit and enter opposing doors.

The group finds out the last soul must go willingly to their death. A concern since Ben's wife died in a car accident and is the reason he built his ghost camera, to see her again. Ben is depressed and pushes people away.

Travis becomes another concern as we learn his father has passed away recently and he feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere in the world. The Box Hat Ghost mimics Ben's wife and Travis' dad to seduce them to death.

Ben realizes his wife knew he loved her, and he realizes he understands Travis' feelings and saves him.

The gang track down the hat of the Hat Box Ghost and convince the 999 ghosts to join them to defeat the evil spirit.

The film feels like an amalgamation of a Ghostbusters plot and a Scooby-Doo story, which ends up working in its favor.

To some extent it makes sense considering Katie Dippold was a writer on the 2016 Ghostbusters film.

Owen Wilson is used well in this with just the right amount of funny. Danny DeVito gives off big Frank Reynolds vibes from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".

LeKeith Stanfield is a tremendous talent who I've been a fan of since his leading role in the 2018 film, "Sorry to Bother You".

Rosario Dawson never disappoints and she's currently a superstar amongst genre fans with her appearances as the live-action Ahsoka in "The Mandalorian" and soon to stream series of her character's name.

Tiffany Haddish is a blast to watch as her comedic talent is on full display with moments of emotional sincerity at perfect points.

This film is great for a quick dose of Halloween vibes and classic comedy.