Casper's Scare School

The second best follow-up to 'Casper', so... yeah.

'Casper's Scare School' arguably has the best plot of the four prequels/sequels, but remains hampered by the very poor animation - which, even for 2006, looks awful. I did recognise a few of the voices, including Kevin McDonald (aka Pleakley) and John DiMaggio (aka Bender). All in all, though, it's another pointless production - and, thankfully, the last... at time of review, at least.

Casper's Scare School features Casper, a friendly ghost. The cuddly ghost is anything but scary. He is lovable, and certainly doesn't fit the typical ghosts.

A quite good animation, with a nice storyline.

Expect no twists and mysteries, as the film is predictable. But what is nice about the film is how the story develops, on how the characters blends well with each other.

I guess that the film is not intended for everyone; it is intended for young children, as they are the one who can really enjoy in the colorful scenery, the story that it intends to tell, and of the characters.

And the story comes with strong moral values, which makes it a very good watch for children.

The show is somewhat similar to JK Rowling's books. Let's make a comparison:

There are three main protagonists in "Casper's Scare School" : 2 boys and 1 girl. There are three main protagonists in the Harry Potter books : 2 boys and 1 girl.

The students in "Casper's Scare School" go to a strange school with gargoyles, awkward teachers and so forth. The students in in the Harry Potter books go to a strange school with gargoyles, awkward teachers and... you get the picture.

The main character in "Casper's Scare School" is kind, friendly, with a family that doesn't understand him and he's dead. The main character in the Harry Potter books is kind, friendly, with a family that doesn't understand him and he's alive (for now).

Ra is Casper's best friend (besides Jimmy), always in his shadow, not as interesting as he is and lazy about schoolwork. Ron is Harry's best friend, always in his shadow, not as interesting as he is and lazy about schoolwork.

Mantha is also Casper's friend. She is very calm...zombie, who is tight with her friends, just la Hermione is. Except the zombie part.

Thatch and Draco are the antagonists playing the part of the school bullies. Both are cruel, selfish and whatever you can think of.

Well, that's really original. What will they think of next? Two midgets who have a ring and must toss into the Eternal Soup of Fire, being guided by a bald eagle who yells 'My precious'?

At least the design and mimics of the characters are pretty good. The voices are not bad, especially Casper's. Enjoy watching it!

If the other Casper videos weren't such a burden to my eyes, I'd have given them better reviews. Nothing beats the originals as well as the 1995 film. Here, the Casper series is given new light and the humor is actually well-tailored to balance that of the first film and little bit of the others. Not bad, and it's good to see now and then, even if the continuity still is off base but... oh well, that's Hollywood. On another note though, the animation is quite unique and calls for a different kind of review. I think it's a little creepy, but then again what's not to like about from the animation crew who worked on the other Tim Burton films? Not bad at all.

Casper the Friendly Ghost is given the Tim Burton treatment in this computer-animated cartoon with a claymation look. The powers of cuteness and niceness triumph over the old-style order in which ghosts, vampires, mummies and so forth are sent to 'scare school' in order to learn how to terrify 'fleshies'.

It is interesting that in the two decades since Burton's askew vision of horror, as shown most clearly in BEETLEJUICE, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, and the animated features THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE Christmas and THE CORPSE BRIDE, that view has become mainstream to the extent that Casper the Friendly Ghost can be given the same treatment. However, the result here is viewer-friendly kiddie farce, eked out not with black humor but with puns and 'adults make no sense' jokes. The result is sporadically amusing, and children are likely to be entertained by it. but adults can give it a miss.