Casper: A Spirited Beginning

"It's a whole new scream!"

1997 1h 30m EN

😐

5.5

MID

★5.5TMDB · 342

AdventureFamilyComedyFantasy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Before he met and befriended the other ghouls at Applegate Manor, friendly ghost Casper meets young Chris Carson, a lonely kid who decides to teach Casper how to be a proper ghost.

“It's a whole new scream!”

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Cast

Steve Guttenberg
Tim Carson
Lori Loughlin
Sheila Fistergraff
Rodney Dangerfield
Mayor Hunt
Michael McKean
Bill Case
Brendon Ryan Barrett
Chris Carson
Jeremy Foley
Casper (voice)
Bill Farmer
Stinky (voice)
Jess Harnell
Fatso (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sean McNamara
Writers: Jymn Magon, Jymn Magon, Thomas Hart
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

90 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Casper Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sean McNamara, shot by Christian Sebaldt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Udi Harpaz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Gilbert shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Steve Guttenberg and Lori Loughlin and Rodney Dangerfield carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sean McNamara directs. Christian Sebaldt behind the camera. Udi Harpaz scores. John Gilbert cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
329 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Casper Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Sean McNamara, shot by Christian Sebaldt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Udi Harpaz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor John Gilbert shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Steve Guttenberg and Lori Loughlin and Rodney Dangerfield carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "It's a whole new scream!".
10IMDB entry: tt0118824 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 10 themes, including "workaholic", "halloween", "prequel", "fish out of water".

The technical file

Cinematography: Christian Sebaldt
Original score: Udi Harpaz
Editing: John Gilbert
Production design: Nava
Costume design: Tami Mor
VFX supervisor: Ray McIntyre Jr.
Runtime: 90 min · 1h 30m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,500,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997)

Part of

Casper Collection

Casper is a 1995 American family comedy fantasy film starring Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery. Included are numerous direct-to-video Casper films.

Also by

Sean McNamara

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What people are saying

r96sk2022-01-24
★ 4/10
<em>'Casper: A Spirited Beginning'</em> is rather rubbish, not that that is of any surprise. It's a stripped back version of the original in every way possible, with the animation - which, admittedly, isn't the greatest in the 1995 release - particularly standing out as being awful. The cast are OK, if entirely forgettable - perhaps with the exceptions of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_McGill" rel="nofollow">Chuck McGill</a>, Michael McKean, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Lion_King_(franchise)_characters#:~:text=and%20kill%20him.-,Mufasa,-%5Bedit%5D" rel="nofollow">Mufasa</a>, James Earl Jones. Let's see what <em>'Casper Meets Wendy'</em> cobbles together...

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