LOS ANGELES -- Eddie Murphy used to make fun of squeaky-clean guys who made family entertainment. But now he's one of them. Remember the Mr. Robinson's Neighbourhood sketch from Saturday Night Live, a spoof of Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood in the violent inner-city? Or his impression of the lovable claymation character Gumby as a hateful show-business hack?

In 1987's Raw, he savaged Bill Cosby for calling to chastise him for his "dirty" stand-up act. Murphy dismissed the sweater-wearing patriarch of The Cosby Show as a "Jell-O pudding-eating (expletive)."

But after the hits Daddy Day Care, both Dr. Dolittle movies and Shrek, the family-comedy genre has given his career a second wind.

In other words: "Now he is Bill Cosby," said Rob Minkoff, director of Murphy's new kid-friendly, supernatural comedy The Haunted Mansion.

Even Murphy acknowledges his warm-and-cuddly status.

"Making movies like this and doing family stuff is just a natural progression, because I'm an older guy," he says.

Murphy, 42, has "mellowed with age," said Minkoff, who also directed the Stuart Little movies. "But he still has a kind of edge. He's not just a soft or milquetoast personality. . . . But actors, as they get older, start to fill different kinds of roles."

Based on a Disneyland theme park ride, The Haunted Mansion stars Murphy as an overworked father who takes his wife and kids on a real estate deal at a house full of "999 happy haunts."

It's the actor's sixth family film in six years, starting with Disney's animated Mulan in 1998.

So why did the foul-mouthed detective from Beverly Hills Cop become Ward Cleaver?

Those who work with him say he's a family man in real life, with a wife and five kids of his own.

"His house is packed with kids," said The Nutty Professor director Tom Shadyac.

"He's a great father and a loving father and that's why he has taken his comedy in that direction. I'm sure he wants to make movies that his kids can enjoy."

But catering to the family audience is also a shrewd career choice.

Many fans of Trading Places and Coming to America are now adults with families of their own, and his transition from R-rated to PG-rated star plays off that loyalty.

Look at the box-office figures since 2001: I Spy, Showtime and The Adventures of Pluto Nash were all box-office disappointments that targeted adults.

Those movies collectively earned about $76 million US at a cost of about $255 million.

In the same time frame he made Daddy Day Care, Dr. Dolittle 2 and Shrek, which earned $483 million at the box office at a cost of about $190 million.

The disparity is even greater when you consider most of those ticket sales were discounted for children and matinee audiences.

Children and parents enjoy Murphy because, even in a silly movie, he's still cool, said The Haunted Mansion producer Don Hahn.

"That's what makes him appealing, because we like to think of ourselves as cool."