"The Haunted Mansion" won't surprise you, but it's more tolerable than the grating, garish, millinery-challenged "Cat." Besides, a cadaverous Terence Stamp trumps a glossy Alec Baldwin as a bad guy any day.

The film incorporates features of the actual ride — singing busts, the gypsy head in a crystal ball, ghostly hitchhikers, even the ominous "welcome, foolish mortals" greeting — and adds a thin storyline involving husband-wife Realtors Evers and Evers (Eddie Murphy and Marsha Thomason) called upon to find a buyer for Gracey Mansion, whose owner (Nathaniel Parker) is a ghost and not exactly a motivated seller. The Everses show up to check out the place with two kids in tow, end up stuck there overnight and are forced to endure evil intentions, spiders and potential otherworldly bigamy.

In terms of terror, "The Haunted Mansion" is no more or less scary than an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (only not so funny or clever). The film is at its best early on, with beguiling credits that provide a smart, quick setup of the mansion's unhappy history.

Murphy's huge, goofy grin, workaholic flutter and frenetic handshakes are amusing at first, too, although the film quickly runs out of humorous steam and resorts to stranding the cast in different, creaky parts of the house, which eventually stifles Murphy's charm. Jennifer Tilly gets the best of this deal: She plays the head in the crystal ball and doesn't have to stumble around aimlessly like everybody else.

Let's face it: This is a movie based on a ride, so, really, how much entertainment can you expect? But at least it is a better bargain than the ride it is shilling. Remember that the next time you find yourself handing over your credit card at the Magic Kingdom.