Casper (1995 Film)

''Casper'' is a 1995 American supernatural fantasy comedy film directed by Brad Silberling, in his feature film directorial debut, based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo. The film stars Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty, and Eric Idle, with voice talents of Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey, Brad Garrett, and the film introduction of Malachi Pearson in the title role. The film follows the title character who peacefully haunts a mansion called Whipstaff Manor in Friendship, Maine, meets and befriends a teenage girl named Kat Harvey (Ricci), the daughter of Dr. James Harvey (Pullman), a paranormal therapist who is hired to move into Whipstaff in order to rid the mansion of its spectral inhabitants.

The film makes extensive use of computer-generated imagery to create the ghosts, and it is the first feature film to have a fully CGI character in the lead role. It goes for a darker interpretation of Casper in comparison to the previous comics, cartoons and theatrical shorts, notably providing the character a tragic backstory that addresses his death.

''Casper'' was released in cinemas on May 26, 1995, by Universal Pictures. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics, who praised the film for its faithfulness to its source material (specifically the title character's portrayal), visual effects, music score, and performances, but criticized its dark tone and humor. The film earned $288 million on a $55 million budget, and spawned two direct-to-video indirect prequels, '' Casper: A Spirited Beginning'' (1997) and '' Casper Meets Wendy'' (1998) as follow-ups to the film and released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and an animated television spin-off, '' The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper''.

Plot

Following the death of her father, neurotic and spoiled heiress Carrigan Crittenden discovers she has only been left Whipstaff Manor, located in Friendship, Maine, in the will while his vast wealth has gone to several charities. Carrigan and her lawyer and close friend Dibs find a map within the will's papers that tell of an alleged treasure hidden inside the manor, but find the property haunted by a friendly ghost named Casper and his poltergeist uncles the Ghostly Trio. They unsuccessfully attempt to force the ghosts out by way of paranormal experts and a demolitions team.

A lonely Casper watches a news report about paranormal therapist James Harvey and is instantly smitten with his teenage daughter, Kat, prompting Casper to inspire Carrigan in summoning Dr. Harvey to Whipstaff. Kat dislikes her father's reputation and obsession with contacting the ghost of his late wife, Amelia. The Harveys move into Whipstaff, but Casper's attempt to befriend them fails when his uncles try to torment and scare them away, which eventually fails.

Casper gains the Harveys' trust when he serves them breakfast, and follows Kat to school, where she becomes popular when her class learns she is living in Whipstaff, and agrees to host their Halloween party there. Her classmate Amber plots with her friend, Vic, to humiliate Kat during the party. Dr. Harvey attempts therapy sessions with the Ghostly Trio, who reveal they know Amelia; in exchange for convincing Carrigan to leave them alone, they promise to get Dr. Harvey a meeting with his wife.

Kat learns Casper has no memory of his life, and restores his old playroom in the attic to remind him. Casper recognizes an old wooden sled his father bought him, and remembers playing outside until he caught a severe cold and died of pneumonia, becoming a ghost to keep his father company. A newspaper article reveals that Casper's father was declared legally insane after he built a machine, the Lazarus, which he claimed could bring the dead back to life. Casper and Kat venture to the basement and find the Lazarus. Carrigan and Dibs sneak inside and steal the formula that powers the machine, plotting to use it to grant themselves immortality. However, they attempt to kill each other to test the theory and retrieve the treasure that they think is in the basement's locked vault. This culminates in Carrigan attempting to run Dibs over with her Range Rover, but instead crashing into a cliff-side tree; upon exiting her car, Carrigan falls to her death and becomes a ghost.

Dr. Harvey becomes depressed after the trio pulls a prank on him, prompting them to take him out on the town. They plan on killing him to make themselves a quartet, but have a change of heart after the drunken therapist declares he will tell Carrigan off so they can stay in their home. However, Dr. Harvey accidentally falls to his death.

In the laboratory, the ghostly Carrigan confronts Casper and Kat, stealing what she believes to be the treasure from the vault and launching Dibs out a window when he tries to double-cross her. As Carrigan demands to be brought back to life, Casper and Kat remind her that Casper's treasure was her unfinished business and by getting it completed her unfinished business, causing her to be ejected into the afterlife. The treasure is revealed to be Casper's prized baseball, signed by Duke Snider; the map was part of a game Casper played with his father. Dr. Harvey, now a ghost and still in his drunken state, returns with Casper's uncles; after bringing him back to his senses, Kat's despair over this prompts Casper to sacrifice his one chance to return to life, restoring Harvey instead.

The Halloween party kicks off upstairs; Amber and Vic's prank is thwarted by the Ghostly Trio, and they flee in terror. A boy dances with Kat, and is revealed to be Casper, temporarily granted physical form by Amelia, who had become an angel after her death. Amelia meets with Dr. Harvey, explaining that the Ghostly Trio kept their promise to get him a meeting with her, and tells him that she was so content with her family while alive that she has no unfinished business and thus did not become a ghost. Amelia departs as the clock chimes ten, promising Dr. Harvey that they and Kat will be together again one day; after kissing Kat, Casper transforms back into a ghost, then inadvertently scares Kat's guests away. Kat is nonetheless impressed with the party, and the Ghostly Trio play their nephew's theme for them to dance to.

Cast

* Malachi Pearson as the voice of Casper McFadden, a lonely ghost who was originally a 12-year-old boy who died of pneumonia. He spends most of his afterlife in Whipstaff Manor, dealing with his ghostly ghoulish uncles' antics while hoping to find a friend. He finds one in Kat, while also developing a crush on her.
** Devon Sawa portrays Casper in his human form
* Christina Ricci as Kathleen "Kat" Harvey, Dr. Harvey's 13-year-old daughter and Casper's love interest who has lost her mother and wants to make a friend.
* Bill Pullman as Dr. James Harvey, Kat's widowed father; a ghost therapist interacting with the 'living impaired', helping them to cross into the next dimension while hoping to find his deceased wife.
* Cathy Moriarty as Catherine "Carrigan" Crittenden, a glamorous, treacherous, and greedy woman upset about her late father only leaving Whipstaff Manor to her in his will. She discovers that the house contains a treasure, though unknown to her is only Casper's baseball. She hires Dr. Harvey to exorcise the ghosts in order to get it. Carrigan ultimately dies and becomes a ghost, before being ejected into the afterlife for all eternity.
* Eric Idle as Paul "Dibs" Plutzker, Carrigan's attorney.
* Joe Nipote as the voice of Stretch, the hot-tempered leader of the Ghostly Trio who bonds with Dr. Harvey. He is the eldest member of the trio.
* Brad Garrett as the voice of Fatso. He is usually the outlet for Stretch's anger, and he is known for being obese.
* Joe Alaskey as the voice of Stinkie. The quietest of the three, he is known for his odor, particularly his halitosis. He is the youngest member of the trio.
* Garette Ratliff Henson as Vic DePhillippi, Kat's crush and Amber's friend.
* Jessica Wesson as Amber Whitmire, Kat's rival and Vic's friend.
* Amy Brenneman as Amelia Harvey, James' deceased wife and Kat's mother.
* Ben Stein as Rugg, Carrigan's lawyer.
* Chauncey Leopardi and Spencer Vrooman as Nicky and Andreas, two preteen boys who explore Whipstaff in the opening scene.
* Wesley Thompson as Mr. Curtis, Kat, Amber and Vic's form teacher.
* Michael McCarty as a bar drunk.

Cameos

* Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci, called in by Carrigan to attempt an exorcism.
* Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz, called in by Carrigan to exterminate the Ghostly Trio. (Uncredited)
* Fred Rogers (archive footage)
* Terry Murphy
* Clint Eastwood as himself
* Rodney Dangerfield as himself
* Mel Gibson as himself
* John Kassir as The Crypt Keeper (voice)
** Brock Winkless performed the puppetry for the Crypt Keeper in the film
* Jess Harnell as the voice of Casper's Arnold Schwarzenegger impression

Production

Executive producer Steven Spielberg was planning a film adaptation of ''Casper the Friendly Ghost''. He saw an episode of the television series ''Brooklyn Bridge'' directed by Brad Silberling and saw potential in this work, recruiting Silberling for directing ''Casper''. Alex Proyas had initially signed on as director, but left due to creative differences with the screenplay. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, he claimed that he was intrigued with doing a children's fantasy, and wanted to do a more dark film, akin to ''The Wizard of Oz''. J. J. Abrams did an uncredited rewrite of the script. The screenplay gave a backstory of Casper being the ghost of Casper McFadden, a boy who died of pneumonia at 12, though some of the comics, particularly in the 1960s, portrayed him as born a ghost to ghost parents.

Principal photography began on January 27 and ended on June 8, 1994. Although some location footage was filmed in Camden, Maine, Whipstaff Manor was largely a studio set. Extensive use of computer-generated imagery was used to create the ghosts, and it was the first feature film to have a fully CGI character in a leading role. One 90-second scene with Casper and Ricci took eight months to create. In the mirror scene, Dr. Harvey was also supposed to transform into Spielberg. According to director Silberling, the cameo was filmed, but was cut for pacing reasons. Spielberg was relieved, feeling that he is not much of an actor himself and was nervous in front of the camera.

Two people have claimed to be the character Casper's sole creator, Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, but neither had retained any rights to the character, and Oriolo died years before production on the film began. However, the filmmakers gave Reit a substantial honorarium.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed and conducted by James Horner, who had worked on a number of previous films for Amblin Entertainment, including ''An American Tail'' and ''The Land Before Time'', and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The track "One Last Wish" would go on to accompany Universal Pictures' "Logos Through Time" Montage, as part of their centennial anniversary. The track "Descent into Lazarus" was used in a trailer for ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas'', another film by Universal Pictures and has music by James Horner. The soundtrack was remastered and reissued as a commemorative twenty-fifth anniversary edition by La-La Land Records on August 4, 2020. The soundtrack was originally released however on April 29, 1995, almost five weeks before the film.

Reception

Box office

''Casper'' opened at #1 over the Memorial Day weekend, grossing $16.8 million over its first three days from 2,714 theaters, averaging $6,205 per theater. Over four days it grossed $22.1 million, averaging $8,140 per theater. It stayed at #1 in its second weekend, grossing another $13.4 million, and boosting its 10-day cume to $38.9 million. It played solidly all through the summer, ending up with a final gross of $100.4 million in North America, and an additional $187.6 million internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $288 million, far exceeding its $55 million budget and becoming a commercial success.

Critical response

''Casper'' has an approval rating of based on professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of . Its critical consensus reads: "A meandering, mindless family movie that frequently resorts to special effects and transparent sappiness". Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned ''Casper'' a score of 49 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A to F.

''Time Out London'' described it as "an intimate and likeable film". Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, calling it a "technical achievement, it's impressive, and entertaining. And there is even a little winsome philosophy". Robert Firsching of AllMovie gave the film his above average star rating while praising the film for its visual effects.

The CGI effects, which were considered cutting edge at the time, and the performances of the main cast were praised, especially considering that, in the scenes where the Harveys interact with the ghosts, Pullman and Ricci were actually acting either with nothing or with stand-in maquettes used as animators' references.

In his ''2015 Movie Guide'', Leonard Maltin gave the film a "BOMB" rating, objecting to the portrayal of Casper as a deceased child rather than a ghost.

Accolades

Home media

''Casper'' debuted on VHS and LaserDisc on October 10, 1995. A DVD release then premiered on September 23, 2003. A Blu-ray version was released on September 2, 2014.

Legacy

The success of ''Casper'' secured Silberling the job of directing the 1998 film '' City of Angels'', a remake of ''Wings of Desire'' starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. A brief clip of the film could be seen in the 2024 film ''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'', in a scene where Knuckles the Echidna (voiced by Idris Elba) gets scared by the titular ghost during one of Sonic's movie nights.

TV shows

An animated series, '' The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper'', was released in 1996 based on the film. Fatso (season 1–2), Stinkie, Stretch and Casper were all voiced by the actors from the film, while Dr. Harvey was voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and Kat by Kath Soucie.

In 2006, Classic Media produced another television film based on the character called '' Casper's Scare School''. The film features Casper being sentenced to a school that will teach him how to scare others. In 2009, the film spawned a spin-off animated series with the same title.

In April 2022, a live-action series was reported to be in development at Peacock with Wu Kai-yu being the showrunner. As of 2025 the show is still in development and no news has been heard on it since then.

Prequels

With Harvey Entertainment retaining prequel rights to ''Casper'', 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, in co-production with Saban Entertainment, released two direct-to-video follow-ups to the film; an indirect prequel, '' Casper: A Spirited Beginning'' (1997), and its sequel '' Casper Meets Wendy'' (1998).

Cancelled sequel

Following the release of ''Casper'', Simon Wells co-wrote a screenplay for ''Casper 2'', which he was set to direct. However, in July 2000, Universal Pictures cancelled the sequel due to the disappointing sales from the direct-to-video ''Casper'' films and the hesitation of Christina Ricci.

Animated direct-to-video film

In 2000, Harvey Entertainment returned once with Mainframe Entertainment to produce a film called '' Casper's Haunted Christmas''. Released by Universal Studios Home Video, the film was all done in computer animation, as opposed to its live-action predecessors.

Cancelled CGI reboot

In March 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced that they were rebooting ''Casper'' as a computer-animated reboot film. It was set to be DreamWorks' second attempt at an animated film based on characters from the Classic Media library, but nothing came of it since its announcement. Concept art for an unproduced film was posted on ArtStation by animator Danny Williams in December 2023, stating that the pitch "never went anywhere".

Video games

There were several video games based on or tied-in with the film released on the major consoles of the time, such as the 3DO, Super NES, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Game Boy Color and original Game Boy. A ''Casper'' game for Sega Genesis was planned but never released. An LCD handheld game was released for Tiger Electronics in 1995.

See also

* List of ghost films
* List of live-action films based on cartoons and comics
* List of films set around Halloween
* ''The Frighteners''

References

External links

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1995 comedy films
American comedy films
1995 films
1990s fantasy comedy films
1990s ghost films
1995 children's films
1995 comedy horror films
Amblin Entertainment films
American children's comedy films
American children's fantasy films
American films with live action and animation
American children's films
American comedy horror films
American fantasy comedy films
American ghost films
American haunted house films
Casper the Friendly Ghost films
Casper the Friendly Ghost
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
American films about Halloween
Films adapted into television shows
Films based on short fiction
Films directed by Brad Silberling
Films produced by Gerald R. Molen
Films scored by James Horner
Films set in the 1990s
Films set in Maine
Films set in country houses
Films shot in Maine
Live-action films based on animated series
Films based on American comics
Films based on Harvey Comics
Live-action films based on comics
Films with screenplays by Deanna Oliver
Films with screenplays by Sherri Stoner
Universal Pictures films
1995 directorial debut films
1995 fantasy films
Resurrection in film
Comedy crossover films
Films about father–daughter relationships
Films about treasure hunting
Films about child death
English-language comedy horror films
English-language fantasy comedy films
Saturn Award–winning films
Crossover films