Casper: A Spirited Beginning Reviews

Reflecting a growing trend, this prequel to Universal's hit CASPER (1995) deliberately bypassed theaters and went straight to home video. The only surprise onscreen and off is that Fox, not Universal, latched onto the material in partnership with kiddie entertainment mogul Haim Saban ("Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"). Casper (voice of Jeremy Foley) a ghostly newcomer to the spirit realm, unintentionally tumbles into the land of the living. He frightens everyone in the modern-day community of Deedstown, but the little ghost is only trying to be friendly. His good intentions offend the Ghostly Trio--Stinky (voice of Bill Farmer), Fatso (voice of Jess Harnell), and Stretch (voice of James Ward)--three pesky poltergeists who have holed up in Applegate Mansion in order to prevent its demolition. They impatiently try to train Casper to misbehave, but the little ghost instead finds friendship with young Chris Carson (Brandon Ryan Barrett), a horror fan. Chris also happens to be the neglected son of Tim Carson (Steve Guttenberg), the developer planning to level the Applegate Mansion and build a controversial shopping mall. After his crew flees the mansion, Carson hires a crazed survivalist (Michael McKean) to blow it up. Unfortunately, Chris gets locked in the mansion by school bullies just before the scheduled explosion is to take place. The Ghostly Trio can't help him; they've been captured by Kibosh (voice of James Earl Jones), a commanding officer of the netherworld, for going AWOL. Casper approaches a frightened Carson and calms him down enough to explain that Chris is trapped. Carson rescues Chris in the nick of time. Casper engulfs the blast and expands to enormous size, saving the mansion and shocking even Kibosh. The Ghostly Trio takes credit for what Kibosh has perceived as Casper's gruesome scare tactics, and a satisfied Kibosh allows the four ghosts to roam free on the condition that they never part from one another. Carson, meanwhile, gives up his shopping-mall dream to spend more time with Chris. CASPER: A SPIRITED BEGINNING is wildly overplotted and haunted indeed by extraneous supporting characters, from a blustery town mayor (Rodney Dangerfield, doing his typical shtick) to a parade of celebrity cameos (including Ben Stein as an altogether different character from the one he portrayed in CASPER). But what really buries the film--after its truly spirited beginning in a nifty computer-generated ghost train--is the heavy-handed emphasis on parental neglect. The cliched workaholic single parent, a staple of most kiddie pics made in the latter half of the 20th century, wastes much quality time and proves no more effective for Guttenberg than it did for Bill Cosby in his ill-fated GHOST DAD (1990). Add to that a preachy subplot favoring architectural preservation and ready-mix romantic interests for both generations of Carsons, and the viewer yearns for more of Kibosh or the Ghostly Trio's antics. One thing is undeniably in this franchise's favor: the films can't help being brighter and more clever than the hopelessly one-joke animated character who inspired them. (Cartoonist Joe Oriolo received a miserly $175 from Paramount in 1945 for the concept.) Another unexpected virtue is the depiction of horror fan Chris as a cheerful, bright kid--but that may have something to do with his cheerful, bright bedroom, which is conspicuously stocked with toys based on Saban Entertainment creations. Newcomer Barrett's dialogue seems based more on snappy sitcom patter than on anything in reality, and the gifted McKean is stuck in a grotesque and thankless right-wing caricature. (Violence.)