CASPER (1995)

Bringing cartoons to life in live-action films might be a tired, even cringey tactic now, but in the 1990s, it was still new and exciting, not to mention more difficult than with today’s technology. Indeed, I’m not only talking about a live-action version of a cartoon, but a 3D-animated one, and Casper was the first film to have a fully CGI-animated character, interacting with real actors, as the lead.

The eponymous friendly ghost has been around for a while: created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo as cartoon theatrical shorts in 1945, the character of Casper was published from 1952 by Harvey Comics, before being bought completely by the publishing company in 1959. He went on to star in more comics and multiple television adaptations, but this 1995 fantastical comedy was the first time the cute spectre was seen in live-action.

I was too young to see this film in cinemas, but it was a beloved VHS of my childhood and tweens, rewatched too many times to count. I even remember having the soundtrack downloaded to my iPod Shuffle; James Horner’s bittersweet lullaby theme remains a deeply nostalgic piece of music to me. I identified with Kat (Christina Ricci), a lonely girl looking to belong, and I had a crush on both her and Casper McFadden (voiced by Malachi Pearson; portrayed by the swoony Devon Sawa in human form at the end).

Casper tackles the incredibly dark themes of death, grief and bullying with slapstick humour and a charm unique to the time. Kat is a 13-year-old girl who wants nothing more than to live in a town long enough to make a friend. Her father, James Harvey (Bill Pullman), is a psychiatrist to the dead who travels the country to help the ‘living impaired’, as he calls them, deal with their unfinished business. Kat and James have unfinished business of their own: Amelia (Amy Brenneman), Kat’s mom and James’ wife, passed two years prior, and they’re dealing with their grief in very different ways. They move to Whipstaff Manor, in Maine, to help heiress Carrigan (Cathy Moriarty) exorcise the property she just inherited from her father.

Upon rewatching this as an adult, I discovered new crushes for myself. James is quite the DILF! He’s a funny, dorky dad who tries too hard, and yearns for his late wife with puppy-dog eyes and floppy ’90s hair. Carrigan, on the other hand, is a rather horrible character, but also kind of a role model in her way: she has an impeccable sense of style, knows what she wants, and makes it happen with as much sass as she can muster.

Casper introduces himself early on to Kat: just like her, he longs for a friend, and can’t help but crush on her. She helps him remember his past by exploring the manor, all while she plans a Halloween party for her new classmates. James has a rude awakening; while he was using his “therapist to the dead” schtick to try and get a hold of Amelia all along, this is his true first brush with the undead, and he’s in for a ride. He has to deal with Casper’s three abusive uncles, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso (voiced by Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey and Brad Garrett, respectively.) Meanwhile, Carrigan has her family friend and lawyer, Dibs (Eric Idle), do her dirty work as they search the manor for a mysterious treasure.

15-year-old Christina Ricci was an inspired casting choice for Kat. High off the success of portraying Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), she brings real Goth girl energy to Kat and infuses her with adorable earnestness and empathy, showing an incredible maturity for her age. The way she creates chemistry out of thin air between her and Casper is impressive, especially considering it was one of the first films of the time to feature a completely digital lead character. Malachi Pearson has a soulful voice and gives a lively energy to Casper, who ultimately has a tragic story as a deceased 12-year-old forced to live on forever with unfulfilled dreams; big shoes to fill for a newcomer like Pearson, who unfortunately never starred in anything else afterwards.

Similarly, Bill Pullman’s performance with the trio of ghostly uncles holds up to the test of time. He has incredible physicality and moves in a way that suggests the ghosts’ presence while retaining a cartoonish quality. It certainly helped that director Brad Silberling encouraged all four voice actors to be on set to read their lines and interact, albeit indirectly, with the rest of the live-action cast. In the behind-the-scenes documentary, Silberling describes Casper as an improvisational big-budget special effects comedy. Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey, and Brad Garrett were all encouraged to improvise and riff off one another and with Pullman to create a performance that was as lived-in and spontaneous as possible—a bold choice, considering the innovative nature of the feature, but a choice that paid off without a doubt.

It also helps that much of the environment and sets were real, and not computer-generated, leading to iconic set design and impressive practical effects. Production designer Lesli Dilley decided to steer away from Victorian architecture, which is more classic for ghost stories, and instead for something more akin to Art Nouveau. The result is a lavish, Gaudí-esque manor with colourful stained glass, fluid lines and expansive spaces with a mesmerising attention to detail. The underground laboratory set is breathtaking as well, and the armchair roller coaster ride to get to it is another amusing bit of slapstick.

Casper had the means to make it happen, with its $55M budget. It was co-produced by Steven Spielberg, who brought on his trusted editor, Michael Kahn, to cut the film. Both infused their special touch into this dark family comedy, fresh from working on Schindler’s List (1993), where Spielberg later recounted they needed a comedy to work on, and Casper was the perfect fit.

The movie was a success at the box office with a worldwide gross of $288M, but it received a paltry reception from some critics, who found it to be “mindless,” “sappy,” and reliant on its VFX. Still, others recognised the impressive technical achievement behind the aforementioned effects, and the actors’ performances were praised. It remains an incredibly entertaining and moving film today. Some jokes have aged poorly (particularly a fat phobic joke about Oprah), but thankfully they’re scarce, and the quality of the physical sets coupled with the care that went into the CGI animation make Casper withstand the test of time.

USA | 1995 | 101 MINUTES | 1.85:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Brad Silberling.
writers: Sherri Stoner & Deanna Oliver (based on ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’ by Seymour Reit, Joe Oriolo & Vincent E. Valentine II).
starring: Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle, Joe Nipote (voice), Brad Garrett (voice), Joe Alaskey (voice), Devon Sawa, Garette Ratliff Henson, Jessica Wesson, Amy Brenneman, Ben Stein & Chauncey Leopardi.