[[Joe Oriolo]]}}"},"starring":{"wt":"[[Steve Guttenberg]]
[[Lori Loughlin]]
[[Rodney Dangerfield]]
[[Michael McKean]]
[[Brendon Ryan Barrett]]
[[Jeremy Foley (actor)|Jeremy Foley]]
[[Bill Farmer]]
[[Jim Ward (voice actor)|Jim Ward]]
[[Jess Harnell]]
[[James Earl Jones]]
[[Pauly Shore]]"},"music":{"wt":"Udi Harpaz
Jeremy Sweet
[[Inon Zur]]"},"cinematography":{"wt":"[[Christian Sebaldt]]"},"editing":{"wt":"John Walts
[[John Gilbert (film editor)|John Gilbert]]"},"studio":{"wt":"[[Harvey Entertainment|The Harvey Entertainment Company]]
[[Saban Entertainment]]
[[Brookwell McNamara Entertainment]]
[[20th Century Fox Animation|Fox Family Films]]{{cite news |last1=Petrikin|first1=Chris|title=Fox renamed that toon|url=https://variety.com/1998/film/news/fox-renamed-that-toon-1117467902/|access-date=March 31, 2018|work=Variety|date=February 18, 1998}}"},"distributor":{"wt":"[[20th Century Fox Home Entertainment]]"},"released":{"wt":"{{Film date|1997|09|09|United States}}"},"runtime":{"wt":"90 minutes"},"country":{"wt":"United States"},"language":{"wt":"English"},"budget":{"wt":""}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwAg">1997 American film
Casper: A Spirited Beginning | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sean McNamara |
Written by | Jymn Magon Thomas Hart |
Story by | Thomas McCluskey Rob Kerchner |
Based on | Casper the Friendly Ghost by Seymour Reit Joe Oriolo |
Produced by | Mike Elliott |
Starring | Steve Guttenberg Lori Loughlin Rodney Dangerfield Michael McKean Brendon Ryan Barrett Jeremy Foley Bill Farmer Jim Ward Jess Harnell James Earl Jones Pauly Shore |
Cinematography | Christian Sebaldt |
Edited by | John Walts John Gilbert |
Music by | Udi Harpaz Jeremy Sweet Inon Zur |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Casper: A Spirited Beginning is a 1997 American direct-to-video fantasy comedy film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. It serves as a prequel, though breaks continuity with the 1995 Universal/Amblin film Casper . The film stars Steve Guttenberg, Lori Loughlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Michael McKean, James Earl Jones and Pauly Shore, with supporting roles by Richard Moll, Sherman Hemsley, Brian Doyle-Murray, Edie McClurg and Ben Stein. The plot explores additional details surrounding the titular character's origins. 20th Century Fox had previously acquired film rights to the character from Universal. The film was produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on September 9, 1997, and was panned by critics.
This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.(July 2023) |
In a ghost train where spirits are heading towards the Ghost Central, Casper is unaware of where he is, while also unaware that he is a ghost himself. He gets kicked off the train and finds himself in the city of Deedstown, where he unintentionally scares a bunch of the town's citizens, which leads him to the realization that he is in fact a ghost.
Meanwhile, a loner boy named Chris Carson, who has a passionate obsession with the supernatural, has a strained relationship with his work-obsessed father Tim Carson, who is attempting to demolish the Applegate Mansion, to make way for a new renovation for the town: building a brand new mini-mall in its place. However, a group of protestors are against the demolition, as the house is considered a historical landmark. The protest is cut short when the wrecking crew that Tim hired and protestors are terrorized by the Ghostly Trio, Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie, who are in possession of the Mansion. Chris witnesses this after seeing the group running in panic, and wants to join the Trio, but they refuse since he is only human.
The train that Casper was on arrives in Ghost Central run by the evil ghoul Kibosh, where new spirits are trained to learn the proper ghost lifestyle and work to receive a haunting license. After discovering Casper's absent, Kibosh becomes furious about the idea of letting a rookie ghost being let loose without any education and forces his spineless assistant Snivel to find Casper and bring him back.
Back at Deedstown, Chris's teacher, Sheila Fistergraff, who leads the protesters, witnesses in the news that Tim and Mayor Johnny Hunt will proceed with the demolition project as planned, despite the setbacks, after the mayor threatens to dismiss Tim if he fails.
Chris runs into Casper, and instantly befriends him, much to Casper's surprise due to seeing that a human is not afraid of him. Chris insists on teaching Casper to be a real ghost while also introducing him to the Trio. Much to the Trio's delight, they discover that Casper has not gone to the Ghost Central and has therefore never been educated by Kibosh, which gives them the opportunity to train Casper and prove themselves to Kibosh, so he would stop pursuing them. They are unknowingly eavesdropped on by Snivel, who informs Kibosh of their plan, much to Kibosh's rage. Casper manages to succeed in his first lesson in going into the stealth mode (going invisible), but fails at every other lesson, leading the Trio to realize that Casper is too soft to be a terrifying ghost: he wants to be friendly, which forces them to kick him out.
After a night of waiting for his father's arrival at his school's open house, Chris gets disappointed that he never showed up as Fistergraff tries to comfort and support Chris. The next morning, Tim decides to make it up to him by spending more time with him that night. Chris offers to teach Casper to become a better ghost after Casper informed him on what happened. Casper manages to succeed by using his powers on a bully named Brock getting him into trouble with the principal, and so he tests his new powers by using them to help people.
Tim is unable to attend a parent-teacher conference he and Chris planned earlier, but Chris hopes his father will remember their other plans, and with Casper's help, sets up dinner for Tim's arrival. Snivel sees Casper acting like a servant to a human and leaves to report back to Kibosh, to which Kibosh prepares to retrieve Casper himself. The Ghostly Trio discover Casper's good deeds and abduct him in attempt to save their reputation, which ruins Chris' opportunity to have Tim meet Casper as Tim does not believe Chris, and instead leaves to visit the mayor. Chris runs away, feeling betrayed by Casper, but gets captured and locked inside the mansion by Brock and his gang out of retaliation, unaware that a bomb has been planted inside by Bill Case, a professional bomber hired by Tim to blow up the mansion.
The next morning, Kibosh arrives in Deedstown, captures the Ghostly Trio, and sends Snivel to find Casper, who fled the Trio the night before. After discovering that Chris ran away, Tim meets Casper, and they both set out to find him, with Casper assuming that he is in the Applegate Mansion, which is about to explode, so Tim hitches a ride with Fistergraff as Casper arrives at the mansion to find Chris, and try to help him escape. Tim manages to get Chris out and Casper eats the bomb, which explodes in his stomach, saving the mansion.
With Kibosh being impressed with Casper's technique, Casper informs him that the Ghostly Trio taught him how to do it, so Kibosh decides to let Trio stay and haunt, which led to the Trio returning Casper the favor by lying to Kibosh saying that they are Casper's uncles, after Kibosh informs them the importance of family, which allows Casper to stay with his "uncles" and Kibosh to leave them in peace. Chris and his father reconcile, Jennifer turns on the bullies and apologizes to Chris and Brock and his gang get their comeuppance when the Trio hangs them from the branches of a nearby tree by their underwear. Casper decides to go with a new name; Casper the Friendly Ghost.
While Universal Pictures planned their own sequel to the 1995 film Casper for a tentative 1999 release, Harvey Entertainment who owned the rights to the IP shopped the property around looking for other studios interested in producing projects based on the character. [2] Harvey eventually set up production of a direct-to-video prequel film with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. [2] After finishing work on 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain , director Sean McNamara approached producer Mike Elliott about the directing job and after showing Elliott 3 Ninjas, McNamara was hired. [2]
Based on 5 reviews on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 0% of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 2.2/10. [3]
A soundtrack album, containing songs from the film, was released on CD and cassette by EMI-Capitol on October 24, 1997.
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Casper, the Friendly Ghost" (opening theme) | KC and the Sunshine Band and Kool & the Gang featuring James "J.T." Taylor | 3:30 |
2. | "Love Sensation" | 911 | 3:36 |
3. | "Delicious" | Shampoo | 2:59 |
4. | "Mansize Rooster" | Supergrass | 2:34 |
5. | "Best Friend" | C.T.F.G. | 2:57 |
6. | "I'm Not Alone" | Ellen ten Damme | 2:38 |
7. | "Don't Worry, Be Happy" | Bobby McFerrin | 3:54 |
8. | "I Wanna Be with You" | Backstreet Boys | 4:05 |
9. | "Spooky Madness" | Big Bad Voodoo Daddy | 3:00 |
10. | "Kandy Pop" | Bis | 2:46 |
11. | "No One Lives Forever" | Oingo Boingo | 4:14 |
12. | "Big Bomb Bomb" | Whitey Don | 3:54 |
13. | "You're in Trouble" | C.T.F.G. | 2:46 |
Casper: A Spirited Beginning was released on VHS in 1997, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was re-released on DVD in 2005, by Classic Media and Sony Wonder, and has been re-released in 2021, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The original VHS release included the US version of the music video for 911's "Love Sensation" as a special feature, though it has been omitted from the subsequent DVD releases.
Casper Meets Wendy is a 1998 American fantasy comedy film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon characters Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch. The film is a sequel to Casper: A Spirited Beginning, and the second spin-off/prequel of Casper (1995). Saban Entertainment co-produced the project.
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers, Robert B. and Leon Harvey, joined shortly after. The company soon got into licensed characters, which, by the 1950s, became the bulk of their output. The artist Warren Kremer was closely associated with the publisher.
Wendy the Good Little Witch is a fictional comic book character from Harvey Comics. Like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Wendy is an opposite-type character, a girl witch who does good deeds.
Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost is a fictional character that appeared in titles published by Harvey Comics. Spooky first appeared in Casper the Friendly Ghost #10. He is Casper's cousin, although their exact relation is never specified. He generally resembles Casper except he has freckles, a derby hat, and a large, black nose.
The Ghostly Trio are fictional characters appearing in Harvey Comics. They are well known for being the uncles of Casper the Friendly Ghost. Their first animated appearance was in The Friendly Ghost, a cartoon of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios theatrical series from the 1940s. When Casper was translated to Harvey Comics, the characters were redesigned to make them more mischievous than terror-inspiring. The characters made numerous Harvey Comics appearances and were featured in the title Casper and the Ghostly Trio. Versions of the Ghostly Trio remained prominent in subsequent adaptations/spin-offs.
Casper: Spirit Dimensions is an action-adventure game published by TDK Mediactive in 2001 for the PlayStation 2 and then a year later for the GameCube. It is based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The Harvey Entertainment Company was the production arm of comic book publisher Harvey Comics. It was founded in 1957.
The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper is an American animated television spin-off series and a sequel of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Casper's Halloween Special is a 1979 American animated Halloween television special produced by Hanna-Barbera featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost and his friend Hairy Scarey from the animated series Casper and the Angels. The special was directed by Carl Urbano and premiered on NBC on October 30, 1979.
Casper's Haunted Christmas is a 2000 animated Christmas supernatural black comedy film produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and Mainframe Entertainment, based on the character Casper the Friendly Ghost, and was released in the United States by Universal Studios Home Video on October 31, 2000. Unlike either its theatrical or two direct-to-video predecessors, which combined live-action and CGI, the film was fully made in computer animation. It stars Brendon Ryan Barrett as the voice of the title character. Randy Travis provided original music.
The New Casper Cartoon Show is a 1963–1964 animated television series that appeared on ABC's Saturday morning schedule, based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. Casper's co-stars included his friends from the Harvey Comics stories: Wendy the Good Little Witch, the Ghostly Trio, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost, and the ghost horse Nightmare. The show premiered on October 5, 1963 and is one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons.
Casper's Scare School is a 2006 animated television film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. The film premiered on Cartoon Network on October 20, 2006. It was produced by Classic Media. A TV series of the same name was produced in 2009, as well as a 2008 video game of the same name.
Casper is a series of action-adventure games based on the 1995 film of the same name. Two different games were released in 1996 and 1997 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, by different publishers, in different regions. A third game was released for the 3DO, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color, published by Interplay Productions. There was also a Game Boy game developed by Bonsai. A PC game, Casper: The Interactive Adventure, and a Game Boy Advance game, simply titled Casper, were released in 1997 and 2002 respectively serving as sequels.
Casper's Scare School is an adventure video game developed by Data Design Interactive for the PlayStation 2 and Nikitova Games for the Nintendo DS. The game was released in Europe in 2008 and in North America in 2010. It reuses similar assets to its 2006 predecessor, Casper and the Ghostly Trio, which was only released in Europe. A sequel titled Casper's Scare School: Spooky Sports Day was released for the Nintendo DS and Wii in Europe in 2009 and North America in 2010.
Casper the Friendly Ghost is a fictional character who serves as the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a translucent ghost who is pleasant and personable, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio.
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.
Casper and the Spectrals is a three-issue comic book miniseries published by Arden Entertainment, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The cartoon character, Casper the Friendly Ghost who appears in numerous cartoon shorts as well as Harvey Comics publication, has appeared in five films since his inception, most of which were either released in television or straight-to-video while only one was released theatrically. Many for the most part are unrelated to each other. Like in the comics and animated shorts, the films feature Casper, a ghost of a deceased child, who refused to frighten others and would like nothing more than to be friendly around the world, due to the nature of what he appears to be, it would often get him shunned by whoever he encounters, but along the way, he would find and befriend a certain someone he could identify himself with, and would often help that someone in need.
Kibosh is the main antagonist from Casper the Friendly Ghost. Kibosh is the powerful, evil and feared King of Ghosts. He is a big and muscular green ghost with red eyes. He is the archenemy of Casper, and he has great contempt for the little ghost and his uncles although he is less villainous in Casper's Scare School than in his earlier appearances, though he still has contempt for Casper and his uncles in the latter appearance.
Casper and the Ghostly Trio is a 2006 platform game developed by Data Design Interactive and published by Blast! Entertainment. It is based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost character by Harvey Comics. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 exclusively in the PAL region, where it was unanimously panned by critics despite a low-key release.