https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/casper I was a kid when this came out in 1995. Before watching it recently, I had only the vaguest recollection that drew mostly from the thirty minutes I played of the PSX adventure/puzzle game. The main idea that had stuck after all these years was that Casper is a lonely kid ghost who desperately yearns for friendship.
Well, I wasn't wrong. At least not textually. But I'm not sure that that's how I'd summarize the character after watching it as an adult. Like everything in the movie, aspects of Casper's character seem to have been thrown at the wall at random and only the more entertaining bits retained. As you might suspect based on the review's title, I personally think Casper the Horny Ghost is more apt.
For one thing, the kid's only friendly on the surface. He's pushy and manipulative. The movie's early scenes are dedicating to establishing that Casper is distraught that other ghosts in the mansion constantly scare people away. After seeing Kat (the lead) on television, Casper contrives to have her father (a ghost therapist) move into the mansion. He then spends an inordinate amount of the runtime staring at her sleeping body, ignoring protestations against unwanted physical contact, and making uncomfortable comments such as the possessive "Can I keep you?" and the absolute classic, "There's a girl... on my bed. Yes!"
That this wasn't a good movie didn't come as a surprise. That it was such a HORNY movie is what took me off-guard. I had expected it to be anodyne, sterile. This is not to say it was enormously offensive. The reason I'm making such a big deal out of it is that it's probably the most notable thing about the movie. The rest of the film is just the normal set of zany antics the average popcorn family movie spends its 90 minutes on. Effects heavy, but not totally charmless. Not deeply meaningful, but reasonably entertaining.
Eventually, the romantic aspects come to fruition when Casper and Kat share a dance at the end. It made me wonder if a better movie could have been made by aging up the kids a bit, toning down or eliminating the uninspired comedy, and just going full-on ghost romance. I dunno. It's fine background watching. Plot: 2 Characters: 3 Themes: 0 Spectacle: 7 Overall Score: ghosts shitting in the dining room.
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