I assumed this would be a family movie (it is PG13) but it is really a goofy caper aimed at young children.
This starts off quite well.
A family move into a haunted house. The son sees the ghost as a desperate soul in need of help but dad sees only a cash-cow.
The main family are great and the ghost is entertaining enough.
The social media aspect isn't really that big a deal - it is always in the background but is really only a device to instigate a silly chase scene - and there are a lot or silly chase scenes.
The worst part of this film by a long stretch is Joy.
Her first words are about racism - is this important to her character? Nope.
I assume it is just so the writers can enjoy a high-five about how great they are at dismantling racisit stereotypes.
Well at least they are not going to push the narrative that all Asian girls are super tech-savvy and have overbearing fathers that force them to study.
Whoops!
Joy has such nuggets like '"being quiet in a library! Since when did noise make you stupid?" or "Why can't I go into the boys' toilet and watch you pee - screw your gender norms!"
I feel sorry for the actress that got lumbered with this creepy, idiot of a character.
This film is mostly about chasing which is unfortunate for Joy as she doesn't seem to be able to run or jump without some heavy editing.
People charge around, fall over, drop stuff, scream: pretty much like on any early morning children's TV show.
The chases are punctuated by some emotional scenes but they are pretty on-the-nose stuff about dads and loneliness.
Young children might get a kick out of it but I found little value in it.
I am obviously not the audience for this and it suffers my low score mostly due to unscrupulous marketing by Netflix.
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