Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I loved Casper one with Bill Pullman. This movie should have never been made. The only people holding this movie together is Kibosh and Steve Guttenburg. The young boy is sweet. The jokes were forced from the actors alike. His school teacher was nice. I agree with other comments on this movie. My stepdaughter loved the first movie. When she saw this one she turned the TV off in a huff. The follow up Casper movies also sucked. The storyline wasn't bad it was the script that let the movie down big time. Chris (Billy no mates) didn't have any other human friends? This is one to easily forget. It was nice to see Rodney Dangerfield make a cameo appearance. Bulldozer

After the success of the 1995 theatrical film, Casper, there were talks in doing a sequel, but Universals felt like the standard moviegoers wouldn't be interested in one, so Fox end up buying the rights and produced the animated series that appeared in Fox Kids which is a follow up to the film. In 1997 Fox released the direct-to-video film, "Casper: A Spirited Beginning" which is supposed to be a prequel to the original film.When the film was release, people criticize it for it's bad affects on the ghost characters, and for it failing to stay true to the storyline of the first film as it was recall in the first film, that Casper died over 100 years ago while in "A Spirited Beginning" he died on present day. This was the first Casper film I remember owning on VHS, so despite the negative backlash the film receives, I will always have a soft spot for it. As a kid, I enjoyed the film, but as I got older began to see the some of the films problems with it's cheap affects and story. My problems lean more towards the story than it's affect, since this is a direct-to-video feature, I can forgive it's affects for not being as good as the original.The story is what really brings the film down for me. I feel like this film comes across as false advertising in which I will get to in a moment. The film starts with Casper inside of a ghost train heading towards the ghost central that is run by the monstrous ghoul, Kibosh. When Casper gets thrown out of the train, he finds himself in the real world, with no support or direction. He meets up with a boy name Chris Carson who has a love for ghosts and will help him with his ghost powers. When Kibosh discovers Casper's absence, he sent forth his assistant, Snivel to find Casper and the Ghostly Trio, who happen to skip training as well, and bring them back.Now, this is where the film comes across as false advertising because when you see the advertising, most of it revolves around Casper, The Ghostly Trio, Kibosh and Snivel in the Spirit World and based on the little summary I just gave, you think this is what the film is going to be. Well, not exactly because you see the film seems focuses more on the family drama between Chris and his father Tim Carson, who is a man that focuses more on his job than on his son, and Casper's whole story arc becomes more of an afterthought as he tries to fix this dysfunctional relationship. I think the family drama would work, if it was more in the background, and not have it feel like the driving force of the film. I feel like the climax of the film, with Chris getting locked up inside the Applegate Mansion with the bomb that was rigged to blow, was uncalled for and having Kibosh, showing up at the last minute having a very underwhelming final confrontation with him, Casper and The Ghostly Trio was unjustified.While most of the affects of the film aren't as good as the original, there are some affects that I like; one in particular is the Ghost Train. The Ghost Central was okay, but you don't really get a full scale of it. Kibosh is without a doubt the highlight of the film, mainly down to him being voiced by James Earl Jones and having threatening presence when he is on screen, and his theme tone really brings out the evil and menacing of the character. There are points where I felt it sounds somewhat similar to the Imperial March in Star Wars, but maybe that's just me. As I said before, the confrontation with him in the end is underwhelming and as for his sidekick Snivel, he was okay, but he does come across as annoyance at times.The Ghostly Trio are just as fun as they are in the original, but they don't have as much screen time this time around. Casper and Chris do have somewhat of chemistry, but not as strong as say Casper's chemistry with Kat, but I really do like them as friends. Tim comes off very unlikable, but it was nice to see him redeem himself in the end when he apologizes to Chris for not being there for him. Chris's teacher Sheila Fistergraff is very forgettable; there is nothing more I could say about that. Now, there are some scenes with her are solid, but there are some that comes off as very cringe worthy. I felt like the whole story with saving Mansion felt unnecessary, and it just plots along.Overall, the film does has it's problems. It certainly isn't as good as the original film, but I don't think it's overall bad, at least it's villain is more memorable as oppose to the one in the original. It has some bad one liners and bad puns, but it is a fun and entertaining film that can be enjoyed, if you are a fan of the Casper character. I do recommend seeing it, but view as on it's own terms and tried not to link itself to the first film, it does stands on its own.

I really like the 1995 original movie, it was cute and charming and worked really well as a family film. Casper and Wendy was mediocre and forgettable, but this movie was just a waste of time. The only half-decent things about it were the way the ghosts looked and the costume and set design. The other effects look cheap and the rushed editing doesn't give them any favours. The story is a mess, not only is it paced unevenly and thin, but like re-writing Casper's history it is so contradictory, while the script is deplorable severely lacking in genuine humour and heart, the slapstick is tedious and tired and other than Casper there are no likable characters. The acting is pretty much rubbish from almost all involved, with the ghostly uncle trio are more annoying than funny, in fact only Casper walks away with any dignity. All in all, awful and a waste of time. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I have this video at home and watch it around Halloween time. Anyway Tim and Mayor Johnny Hunt plan to tear down Applegate Mansion. This makes Tim's son Chris upset. And Chris's teacher Ms. Fistagraph leads a rally to save Applegate Mansion. Ms. Lyons Tim's assistant helps him find out that Chris's teacher is the one behind this rally to save Applegate Mansion. Foreman Dave is the guy that Tim hires at first to tear down Applegate Mansion but Dave and his crew quit due to the appearance by three ghosts so he hires Bill Case. Then Casper accidentaly missed Spook School. Chris befriends Casper and the Ghostly Trio ther'e names are: Stretch, Stinky, And Fatso. So Kibosh and his sidekick Snivel go on a quest to find Casper, Stretch, Stinky, And Fatso. Then there's Brock and his friends who are always picking on Chris then of course there's Principal Rabie the laughing stock of Chris's School.