Casper

I remembered so much of this, and yet absolutely nothing of the plot. <em>’Casper’</em> is a film I must’ve watched so much as a young kid on video, the opening few scenes are very nostalgic. As noted though, I didn’t recall anything serious from this 1995 flick though. It’s a little deeper than I remember, with some adult themes touched on - the concluding scenes stand out in that regard. I did remember the cast, however. Malachi Pearson is perfect as the voice of the titular character, while Christina Ricci is good in the lead live-action role. Bill Pullman spearheads the rest of the onscreen talent well. One casting note: A young Devon Sawa has a part, I recently watched him in television’s <em>’<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chucky_(TV_series)" rel="nofollow">Chucky</a>’</em> - which I’d recommend, fwiw. Another: Clint Eastwood makes a small cameo, as does a certain ghost hunter. Just the *checks notes* four follow-ups have spawned from this release. Off we go...

Kids in Scotland of a certain age might just remember Glen Michael’s “Cavalcade”. This was a television programme on a Sunday afternoon that featured cartoons and one of the most popular of those was “Casper”, the friendly ghost. It was probably more popular because there were hardly ever any available and so when they were announced, it was always exciting. It’s against that sentimental backdrop that I really quite enjoyed this Spielberg action adventure film. It all starts when “Carrigan” (Cathy Moriarty) inherits a decrepit manor house in which she believes there to be a secret fortune. When she arrives she discovers it already has an occupant, and she has to get rid of him first. How, though? Well she even tries the “Ghostbusters”, but to no avail. Eventually, she and her hapless aide “Dibs” (Eric Idle) alight on the widowed spectral scientist “Dr. Harvey” (Bill Pullman), who arrives at the house with his daughter “Kat” (Christina Ricci). Quickly getting used to their house-sharers, what now ensues sees a series of mischievous adventures with our apparition and the young “Kat” as they try to thwart the treasure seeking owner and maybe even settle some old scores, too. If I do have a complaint, well it’s probably that there just isn’t enough “Casper” in his own movie. His three tormenting sidekicks take up a bit too much of the screen time, and at times it does veer a little close to becoming “Carry on Casper”. That said, though, Ricci delivers quite engagingly and Pullman provides a steady, if unremarkable, effort as the resident and bereft adult. The visual effects are quite good fun and the denouement (before it goes altogether too cheesy) has shades of “Frankenstein” to it. It’s more in the vein of “Scooby Do” than “The Conjuring”, but there’s some comedy from the script and I found it flew by.