Is the 2023 Haunted Mansion movie appropriate for young children?

In just a few days, Disney's new Haunted Mansion movie will haunt theaters. Based on the beloved Disney attraction, the Haunted Mansion movie is a supernatural horror comedy that follows a family who has moved into a mansion that turns out to be haunted.

Like the ride itself, the upcoming movie is meant to be family-friendly. But as it features ghosts and haunted spirits, as well as a few jump scares, younger children may find themselves scared at parts.

Is the Haunted Mansion movie appropriate for young children?

The Haunted Mansion movie is rated PG-13 for "some thematic elements and scary action." In other words, those younger than 13 years of age may be uncomfortable at parts.

Naturally, it will ultimately be up to you to determine what your child can handle, but a good test would be to let them watch the trailer and see how they react to it. Even in the two-minute trailer there are quite a few jump scares.

I know many of us are used to Disney putting out family-friendly movies that appeal to children but Haunted Mansion definitely has a more mature and darker tone to it. It's quite different than the 2003 movie that starred Eddie Murphy.

Although that adaptation was also based on the ride it was much more light-hearted and was only rated PG for some language, frightening images and thematic elements. Of course, that may have ultimately led to the movie's downfall as critics called it "neither scary nor funny" and described it "as lifeless as the ghosts in the movie."

To that end, maybe it's a good thing that the upcoming Haunted Mansion has a much darker feel to it. The Haunted Mansion is directed by Justin Simien with a screenplay from Katie Dippold. It arrives in theaters on July 28, 2023.