Casper

Starring: Bill Pullman, Christian Ricci, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle, Malachi Pearson (voice), Joe Nipote (voice), Joe Alaskey (voice), Brad Garrett (voice), Devon Sawa, Amy Brenneman, Ben Stein, Dan Aykroyd (uncredited), Rodney Dangerfield (cameo), Clint Eastwood (cameo), Mel Gibson (cameo)
Directed by: Brad Silbering
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
1995

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (Bill Pullman) trying to work as a therapist for ghosts and his daughter (Christina Ricci) meet Casper and his frightening uncles in a haunted mansion.

Review:

Tim: I really enjoyed Casper. You might think this comes from someone speaking from a place of nostalgia. I was 13 when the film was first released, so it would be a worthwhile guess. However, through some twist of fate, I never watched this movie until I was 37 years old. My wife loved it from her childhood and I finally sat down to watch it. I had a lot of fun watching this movie. It is certainly geared towards younger audiences, but it was an effective movie.

I actually thought the script did an admirable job of juggling multiple topics. First off, there's the original Caspar creation- something that started in cartoons and had a lengthy comics run, too. The movie is an adaptation of that, and we get the Friendly Ghost, his three frightening uncles, and the whole shebang. First off, this movie had to be an effective adaptation. While I was never big into Caspar in those other forms, I'd see some of the cartoons over the years. By all accounts, it feels like this movie did a good job adapting the source material. It has to make some changes to account for a live action/animation mix, as well as a longer run time. It does this well- it fleshes (ha) out the character of Casper more, including giving us his backstory and how he became a ghost. That was novel for the film.

Now, in addition, the movie is also a surprisingly good meditation on loss. That might sound pretentious to say, but I didn't expect death and the afterlife to be such a central aspect of this film. It would have been so easy to gloss over this in an attempt not to turn off younger viewers. I could see the studio saying, "Yes, he's a ghost, but do we need to talk about death so much?" This film takes the opposite view. The main characters are both dealing with personal loss. The death of Casper is a part of the story, and indeed, two characters die within the film. I thought the movie handled this well (for the most part). It was interesting to watch character grieve in different ways. I enjoyed what this movie had to say about life after death.

The film was fun and engaging. The set direction felt superb- I really enjoyed the look of the haunted mansion. There's a lot of character and mystery built into the house and it was well done. The basement and the secrets there were well made as well. That was an important aspect of the film. I also was impressed with the visual effects. I was quite surprised at how well they held up, 25 years later. Casper looks really, really good. The other ghosts do as well. It's interesting- I know this film claimed to be the first film with a fully CGI protagonist (although it's technically not true, for spoilery reasons). Still, this movie was somewhat cutting edge- to feature the titular character as an effect for 98% of the film. That's noteworthy. The visual effects as a whole worked.

I liked the cast, too. I really like Bill Pullman. He did some good things with the role, even though he went a bit too over-the-top from time to time. For the most part, he was effective. Christina Ricci further cements her status as one of the great young actors of all time. She works well in this role. Cathy Moriarty and Eric Idle were weaker. Their performances felt like caricatures. Malachi Pearson was excellent as the voice of Casper. His three uncles were good, too- most noteworthy is Brad Garrett's distinct voice (I knew it was him after his first line).

As much as the cast worked, I also have to applaud this film for some of the craziest cameos I've ever seen. I had no idea this would happen and it was an incredible treat. First off, I immediately loved the movie for having Dan Aykroyd play Ray Stantz from Ghostbusters. That was amazingly cool- I can't believe I never knew that took place. I loved it. The other scene that is remarkable is one where in quick succession, we get cameos by Clint Eastwood, Rodney Dangerfield, and Mel Gibson. Take a second to let that sink in. Why would this have happened? I have no idea, but it was delightful. I laughed out loud and felt a real sense of amazement. It was so cool.

Now, while I enjoyed this movie a great deal, it does have flaws. On occasion, it feels too cartoonish. Some of the acting is bad, especially when real emotions are supposedly taking place. There's a few plot holes and some of the dialogue is cringe-worthy ("his loner daughter"). It felt like the scenes at the end were a little off. I'll try to limit it, but SPOILER ALERT- the scene with Pullman and Amy Brenneman is great, but wouldn't you think Ricci's character would want to get in on that action? It feels like a total miss to have her distracted by Devon Sawa.

Still, Casper is far better than it has any reason to be. It was a lot of fun to watch and I'd consider it a really good movie. It's a shame they never did a sequel.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire, Stuart Little