Casper: A Spirited Beginning

Casper: A Spirited Beginning
Casper, his uncles, the evil Kibosh and Snivel
Directed by	Sean McNamara
Produced by	Mike Elliott
Written by	Jymn Magon Thomas Hart
Story by	Thomas McCluskey Rob Kerchner
Based on	Casper the Friendly Ghost by Seymour Reit Joe Oriolo
Starring	Steve Guttenberg Lori Loughlin Rodney Dangerfield Michael McKean Brendon Ryan Barrett Voices: Jeremy Foley Bill Farmer Jim Ward Jess Harnell James Earl Jones Pauly Shore
Music by	Udi Harpaz
Cinematography	Christian Sebaldt
Edited by	John Walts John Gilbert
Production company	The Harvey Entertainment Company Saban Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release date	September 9, 1997
Running time	90 minutes
Language	English

Casper: A Spirited Beginning is a 1997 direct-to-video fantasy family comedy film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. It is a prequel/spin-off to the 1995 film Casper, giving more details to Casper's origin. The film is produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on September 9, 1997 after the company's acquisition of the character from Universal. The original VHS release included the US version of the music video for 911's Love Sensation as a special feature which has been omitted from the subsequent DVD releases. The soundtrack album was released on CD and cassette on October 24, 1997.

Plot

In a ghost train where spirits are heading towards the Ghost Central, Casper has no idea of where he is, nor is he aware 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 a ghost.

Meanwhile, a loner boy named Chris Carson, with a passionate obsession of 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 was confirmed to be a historical landmark. The bickering was cut short when the wrecking crew that Tim hired and protestors were terrorized by the Ghostly Trio, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso, who are in possession of the Mansion. Chris witnessed 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, Tim and the town's mayor: Johnny Hunt stated that they will proceed with the demolition project as planned, despite a series of setbacks, after the mayor threatens to dismiss Tim if he does not do the job. Unfortunately, this doesn't sit right with Chris's teacher, Sheila Fistergraff who is leading the protesters.

Chris runs into Casper, and instantly befriends him, much to Casper's surprised to see that a human isn't afraid of him. He also introduced Casper to the Trio, and much to the Trio's delight, they discover that Casper hasn't gone to the Ghost Central and has therefore never been educated by Kibosh. This gives the Trio the opportunity to train Casper and put him in Kibosh's place. However, 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. Chris offers to teach Casper to become a better ghost after Casper informed on what happened. Casper manages to succeed by using his powers on a school bully name Brock, as well as getting him into trouble with the school's principal. He tests his new powers by scaring away a man who attempts to rob a convenience store and is thanked by the owner for saving his life. Feeling Humbled for what he did, Casper decide to use his ghostly powers to help people. Upon finding out that Chris's teacher is in charged of saving the mansion, Tim canceled the Parent-Teacher meeting that he planned with Chris, but Chris was still optimistic about their other plans.

Snivel, who finds that Casper has been getting lessons from a human, reports back to Kibosh, in which Kibosh was unable to tolerate any further, and prepares to retrieve Casper himself. The Ghostly Trio discovered Casper's good deeds and abducted him in attempt to save their reputation, which unfortunately ruin Chris's opportunity to have Tim meet Casper as Tim does not believe Chris, and instead leaves to visit the mayor. Feeling betrayed by Casper, Chris decided to run away but gets captured and locked inside the mansion by Brock and his gang for revenge, unaware that a bomb has been implanted inside by Bill Case, a professional bomber Tim hired to blow up the mansion.

The next morning, Kibosh arrives in Deedstown, captures The Trio, and sets off to find Casper. After discovering that Chris ran away, Tim meets Casper, who escape the Trio the night before, 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, and try to help Chris 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 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

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

Soundtrack

See also

• List of ghost films

External links

• Casper: A Spirited Beginning on IMDb
• Casper: A Spirited Beginning at AllMovie