Casper, the friendly ghost, is now in computer form! :D I have to admit, when I became a teenager, I doubted this movie just to be kinda cool and not enjoy a kid's movie. But I babysit often, and my cousins wanted to watch this again, so I slipped it in. You know what? I enjoyed it and I think I'm willing to admit that I liked it.

I love this family movie because it has not only kid humor, but adult humor as well. Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman were great and it was fun to watch their first time reactions moving into the house with the evil uncles that are "disgusting and obnoxious creeps". I love their response to that "Thank you!". Casper is just a polite ghost who wants to have friends and be human again. When he discovers that his father invented a machine to make ghosts humans again, he and Christina find the only potion left that's enough for him to become human. Of course, we have our villains who want a "hidden treasure" in the mansion and set up Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci in the house to get to it. They figure the best way is to have one of them die and be able to just go through the safe. Of course, they must come back human and the only way is the potion that's enough for one person. We have another problem of the uncle's taking Bill on a drinking trip to make him one of their own to "see" his deceased wife.

There is a very touching ending and I would always recommend this for a family watch. It's a cute movie with some fun jokes and cool effects. So, I am actually going to admit that I had fun and am going to give a good rating.

7/10

I recall this film popping out of nowhere really, saw a trailer for it out of the blue, liked the look of it and went to see it. The creepy Addams Family visuals along with some really sweet looking effects hooked me and overall I really enjoyed this little kiddie flick.

The plot is a simple Scooby Doo type affair really. There's a big old spooky mansion where Casper and his three uncle ghosts reside. An evil tyrannical female inherits the mansion and wants to find the treasure hidden within its bowels (then tear it down),problem is the ghosts. So she hires Bill Pullman (a paranormal therapist) and his daughter Ricci to get rid of the spooks.

This being a kids flick its very predictable so I needn't tell you how things unfold. What I will say is the film is a highly enjoyable ghostie adventure with some really nice looking cobweb ridden sets, charming locations, quirky humour, acceptable performances and great CGI amazingly.

The ghost effects on Casper are really nice and hold up well today. He's easily the best of the bunch visually, he looks quite realistic actually. The three naughty uncles are slightly more cartoonish looking and act so. The jokes and slapstick from them is very childish, you can see the one liners and sight gags coming a mile off but that's expected. Other ghosts that materialise during the film also look more like cartoons and not as effective as Casper, not too sure why Pullman's wife appears as a proper human though when all the others are CGI, emotional moment I guess.

The other thing that impresses is how well the actors interact with the CGI spooks, believe it or not but they do look in all the right places and at the right times. You'd half expect this film to have hokey effects and badly directed live action but its really good all the way through. There are some unnecessary quickfire cameos that's for sure, the only clever one was seeing Dan Aykroyd turn up as 'Ray Stantz', I liked that.

Hot on the heels of a certain Charles Addams creation Ricci follows on with her adopted kooky persona with this halloween caper, and its suits her perfectly. Pullman is a blundering but lovable father to Ricci's character whilst Casper is voiced nicely and acted well by a young Devon Sawa in human form. The only let down is the rather lame villainess and her henchman played by Eric Idle who didn't really need to be here.

At times this film is actually very sweet and can bring a lump to your throat, it has that sickly sentimental touch, especially during the finale. But overall this is a great fun film if you enjoy light-hearted supernatural silliness. To sum up it isn't too far from a kids version of 'Beetlejuice' or 'High Spirits' and much better than the Eddie Murphy vehicle 'The Haunted Mansion'.

7/10

I really liked this movie, I seriously don't get the low rating. It is a most enjoyable family film, that is really sweet. My only complaints are one or two dull spots in the script and plot(primarily in the middle) and I didn't feel as though the direction was as good as it could have been. The special effects however are simply wonderful, and the sets are suitably dark and Gothic. But what made this movie for me was Casper, forgive me but he is so cute. The whole movie is well worth seeing just for him, but there are many other good things about this film too. The dance sequence especially is delightful.

The music by the ever reliable James Horner is lovely, and the performances are very good. Christina Ricci matches Casper beautifully in a delightfully sweet central performance, and while Bill Pullman has been better he gives an appealing performance. Eric Idle is hilarious when he is given good material, and on the whole that's what he had. Although his dialogue wasn't always as funny as it could have been, he was still entertaining. But it is Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso who provide the most laughs. It is Cathy Moriaty though who comes close to stealing the show, with a brilliantly wacky portrayal as the villain of the piece. The script is funny and touching on the most part despite the one or two dull spots in the middling half.

Overall, a winning family film. Not perfect by all means, but underrated you bet it is. At the end of the day, it's Casper's picture. 8/10 Bethany Cox