Casper

"Seeing is believing."

1995 1h 40m EN

😐

6.3

MID

🥫

59%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.2

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 5,076🥫59%Rotten Tomatoes●49Metacritic★6.2IMDB · 158,144

FantasyComedyFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Casper is a kind young ghost who peacefully haunts a mansion in Maine. When specialist James Harvey arrives to communicate with Casper and his fellow spirits, he brings along his teenage daughter, Kat. Casper quickly falls in love with Kat, but their budding relationship is complicated not only by his transparent state, but also by his troublemaking apparition uncles and their mischievous antics.

“Seeing is believing.”

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Cast

Malachi Pearson
Casper (voice)
Christina Ricci
Kat
Bill Pullman
Dr. Harvey
Cathy Moriarty
Carrigan
Eric Idle
Dibs
Joe Alaskey
Stinkie (voice)
Joe Nipote
Stretch (voice)
Brad Garrett
Fatso (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Brad Silberling
Writers: Deanna Oliver, Sherri Stoner, George Hull
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

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 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 Brad Silberling, shot by Dean Cundey. 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 James Horner. 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 Michael Kahn 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

Malachi Pearson and Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Brad Silberling directs. Dean Cundey behind the camera. James Horner scores. Michael Kahn cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 5.8× over at the box office.
331 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 Brad Silberling, shot by Dean Cundey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by James Horner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Michael Kahn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Malachi Pearson and Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Seeing is believing.".
10IMDB entry: tt0112642 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 21 themes, including "friendship", "afterlife", "supernatural", "halloween".

The technical file

Cinematography: Dean Cundey
Original score: James Horner
Editing: Michael Kahn
Production design: Leslie Dilley
Costume design: Rosanna Norton
Makeup / hair: Matthew W. Mungle
Sound: Gary Rydstrom
Stunt coordinator: Gary Hymes
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $50,000,000
Box office: $287,928,194
Return: 576% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Casper (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes: 59% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 49/100
IMDB rating: 6.2/10 · 158,144 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

5 wins & 5 nominations total

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

Brad Silberling

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2018-10-12
★ 6/10
Fun, silly ghost flick with Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci and Cathy Moriarty A ghost-whispering paranormal expert and his daughter (Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci) move into a dilapidated mansion on the coast of Maine that’s haunted by a friendly ghost and three mischievous ones. Cathy Moriarty plays the venal heir of the mansion and Eric Idle her assistant. “Casper” (1995) delivers the goods if you're in the mood for a "spooktacular" Goosebumps-like horror film that's fun & silly and not scary at all. It's like Scooby-Doo but without the dog and the teens are tweens. “Monster Night” (2006) and “Ghostbusters” (1984) are other reference points, but I prefer “Monster Night,” which has a similar plot, but is all-around more entertaining (even though it cost significantly less) and has a superior assortment of good-lookin' women, young and older. With “Caspar” there’s Moriarty, but she plays the biyatch antagonist. There’s also ricci, but she was only 14 during shooting, although she’s effective in the role. The movie runs 1 hour, 40 minutes and was shot at Universals City, California, with establishing shots of Rockport, Maine. GRADE: B-/C+
r96sk2022-01-24
★ 7/10
I remembered so much of this, and yet absolutely nothing of the plot. <em>’Casper’</em> is a film I must’ve watched so much as a young kid on video, the opening few scenes are very nostalgic. As noted though, I didn’t recall anything serious from this 1995 flick though. It’s a little deeper than I remember, with some adult themes touched on - the concluding scenes stand out in that regard. I did remember the cast, however. Malachi Pearson is perfect as the voice of the titular character, while Christina Ricci is good in the lead live-action role. Bill Pullman spearheads the rest of the onscreen talent well. One casting note: A young Devon Sawa has a part, I recently watched him in television’s <em>’<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chucky_(TV_series)" rel="nofollow">Chucky</a>’</em> - which I’d recommend, fwiw. Another: Clint Eastwood makes a small cameo, as does a certain ghost hunter. Just the checks notes four follow-ups have spawned from this release. Off we go...
CinemaSerf2025-10-03
★ 7/10
Kids in Scotland of a certain age might just remember Glen Michael’s “Cavalcade”. This was a television programme on a Sunday afternoon that featured cartoons and one of the most popular of those was “Casper”, the friendly ghost. It was probably more popular because there were hardly ever any available and so when they were announced, it was always exciting. It’s against that sentimental backdrop that I really quite enjoyed this Spielberg action adventure film. It all starts when “Carrigan” (Cathy Moriarty) inherits a decrepit manor house in which she believes there to be a secret fortune. When she arrives she discovers it already has an occupant, and she has to get rid of him first. How, though? Well she even tries the “Ghostbusters”, but to no avail. Eventually, she and her hapless aide “Dibs” (Eric Idle) alight on the widowed spectral scientist “Dr. Harvey” (Bill Pullman), who arrives at the house with his daughter “Kat” (Christina Ricci). Quickly getting used to their house-sharers, what now ensues sees a series of mischievous adventures with our apparition and the young “Kat” as they try to thwart the treasure seeking owner and maybe even settle some old scores, too. If I do have a complaint, well it’s probably that there just isn’t enough “Casper” in his own movie. His three tormenting sidekicks take up a bit too much of the screen time, and at times it does veer a little close to becoming “Carry on Casper”. That said, though, Ricci delivers quite engagingly and Pullman provides a steady, if unremarkable, effort as the resident and bereft adult. The visual effects are quite good fun and the denouement (before it goes altogether too cheesy) has shades of “Frankenstein” to it. It’s more in the vein of “Scooby Do” than “The Conjuring”, but there’s some comedy from the script and I found it flew by.