The 1995 film Casper came in the wake of a number of high profile films based on older properties. Some, like The Addams Family, Maverick, and Flintstones managed to achieve impressive box office and/or critical praise while others such as The Beverly Hillbillies, Car 54, Where Are You?, or Richie Rich were met with derision and scorn from critics and audiences. Casper falls somewhere towards to the upper end of the spectrum making it better than Flintstones by a considerable margin, but not nearly as funny or memorable as The Addams Family. Casper, based on the Harvey Comics character turned star of Famous Studios' series of theatrical shorts, follows the titular friendly ghost as he deals with the schemes of heiress Carrigan Crittenden(played delightfully over the top by Cathy Moriarty), his brash abrasive uncles The Ghostly Trio, a grieving paranormal psychologist and his outsider daughter, and a whole host of shenanigans from either the living or the dead. Needless to say there's elements I'm leaving out because they're either resolved to quickly to be of merit or contribute nothing to the movie.

First the good. The performances are energized and give this movie the life it needs to justify itself. Regardless of the quality of the material, everyone here is bringing their A game be it Eric Idle as the put upon yes man, Bill Pullman as the quirky paranormal psychologist, Christina Ricci as the outsider daughter, and even Devon Sawa as Casper. Helping the performances is the amazing production design which helps create an incredible looking haunted house that feels almost like Disney's Haunted Mansion ride with more polish(though sometimes the film does feel a bit too much like a theme park ride in certain segments). The effects to create the ghosts are also quite impressive for the time, as they're designed very similarly to Jim Carrey's effects from The Mask with cartoonish exaggerations and elasticity that make them feel dynamic and alive(no pun intended).

The Negatives. The script has problems finding pacing and direction. There's no one single story pulling the characters from scene to scene, the instigating plot involving Carrigan looking for a secret Treasure takes up the first 10 minutes of the movie and then is brought back for maybe 12 minutes towards the end of the movie. Scenes just kind of go from one to the next as there's really no callback style jokes or running gags linking the comic set pieces together, nor are there really character building scenes as they feel like islands without much thought to placement in a larger narrative.

The movie is written by Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver, better known for their work on shows like Animaniacs and Tiny Toons Adventures and there's definitely a lot of their comic style on display with the Ghostly Trio who spout pop culture references and insults(with a surprising amount of hells and damns thrown in but that's honestly not much of a concern for me), but much of their comic scenes feel at odds with other scens that try to seriously address the nature of death and grief(including a very well staged scene where Casper looks over his sled remembering how he died) and the tone will whiplash from Snarky, to Zany, to serious sometimes within only a few seconds.

Casper is the kind of movie you wish were better than it is. There's clear talent on display be it the production design, the direction, the acting, and even the special effects, but it's unfortunately weighed down by a lack of focus and can feel like a scattershot imitator of Beetlejuice with its teeth filed down. It's got good moments, they just don't come together as well as they should.

After you get through the stresses of your day... your job, the hassles of daily life, all the stressers that are out there daily, it seems great to sit back and enjoy something that will take you out of that for a little while. If you watch the news and read the papers every day like I do, it gets to you after a while...the young soldiers being killed in Iraq, all the election BS that we are being bombarded with right now...all or most of the news is downright depressing. That creates an important place for a movie like this...one that can make your life a little less serious for a while. I've always been a Christina Ricci fan, going back to the Addams Family when she was only 11 years old. She was a great actress even at that young age. You could tell that she would go far as an actress. The personality was there...it set her apart from her peers. At the age of 15, she continues to do a great job in Casper...she is very believable.

Sometimes, in this troubled world where violence and negative things seem to be the norm, a nice little movie like this can go a long way toward making your day a little brighter. Some of my other "feel good" movies are Patch Adams, all the Superman movies, the Robocop series, and good old Babe. Thanks for reading this. Feel free to reply with an email.