Finally saw it last night. I think my opinions fall right in line with others on here. Over all, I enjoyed it, but felt it could have been SO much more. On a scale of 1 -10, I give it a 5.
The Good: The actors and acting was fine to me. In fact, I shudder to think how this would have tuned out with lesser actors. The over-all story was good and I like how they dealt with grief. The 3rd act was good to me, but a bit rushed. Chase W. Dillon was good and I wish they had focused on him a bit more. He seemed absolutely terrified in his first scenes and I think everyone can relate to being a scared kid. I loved all of the ride references. I thought the FX were ok.
The Bad : To me, the first 2 acts felt too slow and we needed more of what we got in the 3rd act. The storyline was good, but I felt the pacing of that story had lots of room for improvement. This movie tries to hit a slow pace early for dramatic effect and it just doesn't work. Slow pacing with too many characters makes it drag. Didn't care for Jamie Lee Curtis. I like JLC in everything, but this just didn't work for me. Leota is such an integral part of the HM experience, I'd try to keep that character as close to "ride canon" as possible. Leota could have been used to give a true spooky feel to this movie, but they went with (bad, $3) comedic value. To be fair, I didn't care for the Jennifer Tilly version either. Most of the jokes just fall flat throughout the movie. Wish they had worked in Paul Frees' voice in some way.
In the end it was just ok. Not bad, not great, but a solid family movie. If you can get past the slow prerequisite first half, you will probably enjoy the second half.
