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Casper: A Spirited Beginning
Casper: A Spirited Beginning
	Home video release poster
Directed by	Sean McNamara
Written by	Jymn Magon; Thomas Hart
Story by	Thomas McCluskey; Rob Kerchner
Based on	Casper the Friendly Ghost; by Seymour Reit; Joe Oriolo
Produced by	Mike Elliott
Starring	Steve Guttenberg; Lori Loughlin; Rodney Dangerfield; Michael McKean; Brendon Ryan Barrett; Jeremy Foley; Bill Farmer; Jim Ward; Jess Harnell; James Earl Jones; Pauly Shore
Cinematography	Christian Sebaldt
Edited by	John Walts; John Gilbert
Music by	Udi Harpaz; Jeremy Sweet; Inon Zur
Production; companies	The Harvey Entertainment Company; Saban Entertainment; Brookwell McNamara Entertainment; Fox Family Films
Distributed by	20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release date	September 9, 1997 (United States);
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Casper: A Spirited Beginning is a 1997 American direct-to-video fantasy comedy film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. It serves as a prequel, though breaks continuity with the 1995 Universal/Amblin film Casper. The film stars Steve Guttenberg, Lori Loughlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Michael McKean, James Earl Jones and Pauly Shore, with supporting roles by Richard Moll, Sherman Hemsley, Brian Doyle-Murray, Edie McClurg and Ben Stein. The plot explores additional details surrounding the titular character's origins. 20th Century Fox had previously acquired film rights to the character from Universal. The film was produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on September 9, 1997, and was panned by critics.

Plot

In a ghost train where spirits are heading towards the Ghost Central, Casper is unaware of where he is, while also unaware that he is a ghost himself. He gets kicked off the train and finds himself in the city of Deedstown, where he unintentionally scares a bunch of the town's citizens, which leads him to the realization that he is in fact a ghost.

Meanwhile, a loner boy named Chris Carson, who has a passionate obsession with the supernatural, has a strained relationship with his work-obsessed father Tim Carson, who is attempting to demolish the Applegate Mansion, to make way for a new renovation for the town: building a brand new mini-mall in its place. However, a group of protestors are against the demolition, as the house is considered a historical landmark. The protest is cut short when the wrecking crew that Tim hired and protestors are terrorized by the Ghostly Trio, Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie, who are in possession of the Mansion. Chris witnesses this after seeing the group running in panic, and wants to join the Trio, but they refuse since he is only human.

The train that Casper was on arrives in Ghost Central run by the evil ghoul Kibosh, where new spirits are trained to learn the proper ghost lifestyle and work to receive a haunting license. After discovering Casper's absent, Kibosh becomes furious about the idea of letting a rookie ghost being let loose without any education and forces his spineless assistant Snivel to find Casper and bring him back.

Back at Deedstown, Chris's teacher, Sheila Fistergraff, who leads the protesters, witnesses in the news that Tim and Mayor Johnny Hunt will proceed with the demolition project as planned, despite the setbacks, after the mayor threatens to dismiss Tim if he fails.

Chris runs into Casper, and instantly befriends him, much to Casper's surprise due to seeing that a human is not afraid of him. Chris insists on teaching Casper to be a real ghost while also introducing him to the Trio. Much to the Trio's delight, they discover that Casper has not gone to the Ghost Central and has therefore never been educated by Kibosh, which gives them the opportunity to train Casper and prove themselves to Kibosh, so he would stop pursuing them. They are unknowingly eavesdropped on by Snivel, who informs Kibosh of their plan, much to Kibosh's rage. Casper manages to succeed in his first lesson in going into the stealth mode (going invisible), but fails at every other lesson, leading the Trio to realize that Casper is too soft to be a terrifying ghost: he wants to be friendly, which forces them to kick him out.

After a night of waiting for his father's arrival at his school's open house, Chris gets disappointed that he never showed up as Fistergraff tries to comfort and support Chris. The next morning, Tim decides to make it up to him by spending more time with him that night. Chris offers to teach Casper to become a better ghost after Casper informed him on what happened. Casper manages to succeed by using his powers on a bully named Brock getting him into trouble with the principal, and so he tests his new powers by using them to help people.

Tim is unable to attend a parent-teacher conference he and Chris planned earlier, but Chris hopes his father will remember their other plans, and with Casper's help, sets up dinner for Tim's arrival. Snivel sees Casper acting like a servant to a human and leaves to report back to Kibosh, to which Kibosh prepares to retrieve Casper himself. The Ghostly Trio discover Casper's good deeds and abduct him in attempt to save their reputation, which ruins Chris' opportunity to have Tim meet Casper as Tim does not believe Chris, and instead leaves to visit the mayor. Chris runs away, feeling betrayed by Casper, but gets captured and locked inside the mansion by Brock and his gang out of retaliation, unaware that a bomb has been planted inside by Bill Case, a professional bomber hired by Tim to blow up the mansion.

The next morning, Kibosh arrives in Deedstown, captures the Ghostly Trio, and sends Snivel to find Casper, who fled the Trio the night before. After discovering that Chris ran away, Tim meets Casper, and they both set out to find him, with Casper assuming that he is in the Applegate Mansion, which is about to explode, so Tim hitches a ride with Fistergraff as Casper arrives at the mansion to find Chris, and try to help him escape. Tim manages to get Chris out and Casper eats the bomb, which explodes in his stomach, saving the mansion.

With Kibosh being impressed with Casper's technique, Casper informs him that the Ghostly Trio taught him how to do it, so Kibosh decides to let Trio stay and haunt, which led to the Trio returning Casper the favor by lying to Kibosh saying that they are Casper's uncles, after Kibosh informs them the importance of family, which allows Casper to stay with his "uncles" and Kibosh to leave them in peace. Chris and his father reconcile, Jennifer turns on the bullies and apologizes to Chris and Brock and his gang get their comeuppance when the Trio hangs them from the branches of a nearby tree by their underwear. Casper decides to go with a new name; Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Cast

Live-action cast

Brendon Ryan Barrett as Chris Carson
Steve Guttenberg as Tim Carson
Lori Loughlin as Sheila Fistergraff
Rodney Dangerfield as Mayor Johnny Hunt
Michael McKean as Bill Case
Shannon Chandler as Jennifer
Steven Hartman as Brock Lee
Logan Robbins as Danny
D'Juan Watts as Leon
Brian Doyle-Murray as Foreman Dave
Sherman Hemsley as Store Owner
Edie McClurg as Librarian
Richard Moll as Principal Rabie
Ben Stein as Grocer
Rodger Halston as Stan
Casper Van Dien as Bystander
Michael James McDonald as Sarcastic Protester

Voice cast

Production

While Universal Pictures planned their own sequel to the 1995 film Casper for a tentative 1999 release, Harvey Entertainment who owned the rights to the IP shopped the property around looking for other studios interested in producing projects based on the character.^[2] Harvey eventually set up production of a direct-to-video prequel film with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.^[2] After finishing work on 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain, director Sean McNamara approached producer Mike Elliott about the directing job and after showing Elliott 3 Ninjas, McNamara was hired.^[2]

Critical reception

Based on 5 reviews on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 0% of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 2.2/10.^[3]

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album, containing songs from the film, was released on CD and cassette by EMI-Capitol on October 24, 1997.

Track listing
No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Casper, the Friendly Ghost" (opening theme)	KC and the Sunshine Band and Kool & the Gang featuring James "J.T." Taylor	3:30
2.	"Love Sensation"	911	3:36
3.	"Delicious"	Shampoo	2:59
4.	"Mansize Rooster"	Supergrass	2:34
5.	"Best Friend"	C.T.F.G.	2:57
6.	"I'm Not Alone"	Ellen ten Damme	2:38
7.	"Don't Worry, Be Happy"	Bobby McFerrin	3:54
8.	"I Wanna Be with You"	Backstreet Boys	4:05
9.	"Spooky Madness"	Big Bad Voodoo Daddy	3:00
10.	"Kandy Pop"	Bis	2:46
11.	"No One Lives Forever"	Oingo Boingo	4:14
12.	"Big Bomb Bomb"	Whitey Don	3:54
13.	"You're in Trouble"	C.T.F.G.	2:46

Home media

Casper: A Spirited Beginning was released on VHS in 1997, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was re-released on DVD in 2005, by Classic Media and Sony Wonder, and has been re-released in 2021, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The original VHS release included the US version of the music video for 911's "Love Sensation" as a special feature, though it has been omitted from the subsequent DVD releases.

References

^ Petrikin, Chris (February 18, 1998). "Fox renamed that toon". Variety. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Scapperotti, Dan (September 1997). "Ghost in the Machine". Cinefantastique. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
^ "Casper: A Spirited Beginning". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 5, 2018.