CASPER
A film review by Jeffrey Graebner
Copyright 1995 Jeffrey Graebner
Universal/Amblin's new live-action version of CASPER is considerably more entertaining than it has any right to be. While the film suffers from a nearly incoherent story, it does contain some clever ideas, a lot of laughs, eye-popping visuals, and appealing performances by Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman.
From the beginning, a live-action film based on the "Casper the Friendly Ghost" cartoon series and comic books seems like a strange idea. While film adaptations of older TV series are popular right now, CASPER doesn't immediately generate the strong feelings of positive nostalgia that helped projects like THE FLINTSTONES or THE ADDAMS FAMILY. The project is further hampered by the fact that there just isn't all that much to the source material. It is an awfully thin basis for a full-length movie.
Surprisingly, though, the filmmakers almost pull it off. I suspect that the visual-effects potential is a large part of what attracted Amblin to this project. Many members of the Industrial Light and Magic team that worked on JURASSIC PARK, including supervisors Dennis Muren and Michael Lantieri, also work on CASPER. The illusion created for the ghosts is so believable that it seems absolutely effortless. After the initial "wow" factor wore off, I found that I stopped even thinking about the fact that they *were* special effects. I was completely caught up by the illusion.
Some may object to the fact that the design of the ghosts is essentially the same as the cartoon series. At first the cartoon-like designs are a bit jarring in a live-action film, but I quickly grew used to it. In the long run, I think the familiarity of the design serves the film well. A large part of the success of the visuals comes from the fact that the ghosts seamlessly interact with the human characters and live-action props (using many of the techniques pioneered in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT). This interaction helps the audience to easily lose the impression of watching cartoon characters.
While the film is fun to watch, the script turns out to be both a strength and a liability. Writers Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver are veterans of Amblin's "Tiny Toons Adventures" and "Animaniacs" TV series. That background does tend to be reflected in the film, which sometimes seems like a cartoon short stretched out to nearly two hours. The movie has some very clever sequences and some very funny dialog and slapstick. The plot doesn't really hold together, though. It seems like a strung-together collection of scenes rather than a coherent whole.
Like many of the recent TV series adaptations, CASPER is seriously overplotted. The main plot involves Ms. Carrigan (Cathy Moriarty), a rich woman who inherits the mansion haunted by Casper and his three obnoxious cousins. She believes that there is treasure hidden in the mansion, but the ghosts keep her from getting close enough to search. She eventually hires "ghost therapist" Dr. Harvey (Pullman) who moves into the mansion with his daughter Cat (Ricci). As Cat befriends Casper and Dr. Harvey tries to calm the obnoxious cousins, Carrigan and her associate Dibs (Eric Idle) try to find the treasure.
This plot is further complicated by several subplots. Some of them include Cat planning a school dance to be held at the mansion and Kat helping Casper to use a resurrection machine originally invented by his father to bring him back to life. There are a few too many plots here and they don't all manage to come together cleanly. At times, Stoner and Oliver introduce plot elements that they eventually just abandon. The most blatant example is an unclear prank that a couple of Cat's classmates are trying to engineer. It was never clear exactly *what* they had intended.
Despite this overall incoherence, there are a lot of individual scenes that really *do* work. Many of the jokes do manage to find their mark and the writers wisely include a fair share of jokes aimed at the adults in the audience. They even manage a few clever and unpredictable twists that are quite welcome. The final fate of Moriarty's character is particularly unexpected.
The film does attempt to explore a few serious themes with some surprisingly effective results. There are several scenes where Kat tries to help Casper to remember what he was like when he was alive. These are quite well played and really do generate some dramatic interest. The film even manages a tasteful scene that explains how Casper died. There are also a few well- played scenes involving Dr. Harvey trying to get past the death of his wife. This eventually leads to an exceptionally satisfying conclusion late in the film.
There is one issue that the film conspicuously ignores. There are a number of references to the concept that ghosts are spirits that have been unable to "cross-over" due to unfinished business. This issue comes into play several times, but there are never any discussions of what unfinished business is keeping Casper around. Certainly, resolution of that would have hurt the chances for a sequel, but it should have at least been *discussed*.
In MERMAIDS and both of the ADDAMS FAMILY films, Christina Ricci managed to steal virtually every scene she was in. She gives another really strong performance here. She is an extremely likable performer and she is able to bring a lot even to this kind of cartoonish role. I'd love to see what she would do with a more complex role.
Bill Pullman has been a very solid character actor for many years and he is good here as well. He isn't given much to do, but he does a lot with what he is given. The combination of this film and WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING might help to increase his marketability as an actor.
The rest of the performances are competent, but not particularly inspired. Moriarty is playing basically the same role she has played in numerous other films and is also allowed to go a little too far over the top here. Eric Idle isn't given a great deal to do, but he still manages to be pretty funny.
First time director Brad Silberling does a competent job and manages to generally keep the pace up. As might be expected here, the direction does seem to favor the visual effects over the acting (as particularly evidenced in the supporting roles). James Horner provides a decent (but not particularly original) musical score. The film does make the mistake of never playing a straightforward version of the old TV series' theme song (a version performed by Little Richard does play over the end credits).
By no means is CASPER a great film, but it is certainly a lot better than it might have been. The film doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense, but it a lot of fun and I left the theater with a big smile on my face.
-- Jeffrey P. Graebner Columbus, Ohio
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