Casper - A Spirited Beginning (1997)

0% of critics liked it
(5 reviews)
55% of users liked it
(46,515 ratings)

Billed as a prequel to the 1995 family film Casper, which in turn is based on an enduring Harvey cartoon character "Casper the Friendly Ghost," this direct-to-video entry is aimed at younger kids (though some of the scenes may be inappropriate for really young children). The story begins as Casper,… More Billed as a prequel to the 1995 family film Casper, which in turn is based on an enduring Harvey cartoon character "Casper the Friendly Ghost," this direct-to-video entry is aimed at younger kids (though some of the scenes may be inappropriate for really young children). The story begins as Casper, who is new to the ghostly plane, rides a death train towards Ghost Central Station where he is to attend a camp to train him to scare people. Instead, he irritates another passenger and is tossed off the train. The bewildered little spirit lands in Deedstown where he becomes friends with 10-year-old Chris Carson, a troubled boy whose mother is gone and whose work-obsessed father ignores him. Chris sees that Casper is troubled too and so decides to show him how to be a real ghost by taking him to Applegate Manor, the town's haunted house, and introducing him to the riotous Ghostly Trio. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Sean McNamara
Written By: Jymn Magon, Thomas Hart
Genres: Television, Kids & Family, Comedy

In Theaters: Sep 9, 1997 Wide
On DVD: Aug 16, 2005
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
Taking place in a scary netherworld where up is down, black is white, and Steve Guttenberg, Rodney Dangerfield, Lori Loughlin, Pauly Shore, and Richard Moll still have careers.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

I only watched this because it went along with the other two Casper movies, but it's a prequel, most prequels aren't good, and this is no exception. It has a bit of the charm from the first two, but overall it's just so-so.
Wahida K

Casper is timeless
Jason O

"Casper - A Spirited Beginning" isn't anything like the first Casper movie and it isn't as good, but it's still a good movie in its own way. In this movie, Casper befriends a 10-year-old boy who believes in ghosts. The boy is the only person that's not… More
"Casper - A Spirited Beginning" isn't anything like the first Casper movie and it isn't as good, but it's still a good movie in its own way. In this movie, Casper befriends a 10-year-old boy who believes in ghosts. The boy is the only person that's not scared of Casper, so they become best friends. The bad thing is that the boy's father is real busy and never seems to pay attention to his son, and the worst of all, the father has a plan to tear down an old haunted mansion so the town can have a new shopping center. However, nobody seems to like the idea of getting rid of the old mansion. "Casper - A Spirited Beginning" is a good movie in most ways. Casper and the same 3 ghosts that were in the first Casper movie are back in this one along with a bunch of new ghosts including one that looks like a huge version of Slimer from The Ghostbusters. "Casper - A Spirited Beginning" has an interesting plot, parts of it are funny, and it has good animated effects such as an old graveyard and a train with a skull on the front of it. If you like Casper movies, I recommend getting "Casper - A Spirited Beginning." It's a new beginning to a new kind of Casper movies, and it's good. NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2000.
Yinalí R

Cool