The late-40s to the early/mid-50s Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons had a higher budget and overall the overall quality was much better. Onwards, the quality did diminish quite significantly though the overall cartoons varied, some decent, many mediocre.
Famous Studios' cartoons are not for all tastes, but my opinion is that their early stuff and some of the early 50s output are good. While they were very formulaic they were always well animated and voiced with some funny parts, some poignancy and decent characters and their regular composer Winston Sharples could always be relied on to write a great and often outstanding score.
Admittedly though, by the mid-50s through to the late-60s Famous Studios' cartoons did get repetitive. While Sharples' music still shone and the voice actors did their best the animation suffered due to lower budgets and tighter deadlines, the humour became more tired and slow in timing than sharp and funny, the stories became increasingly predictable and rehashed and some characters started losing their initial spark, this is particularly true of most of the later Herman and Katnip cartoons.
After 'Boo Moon' (the last "great" Casper cartoon), many of the Casper cartoons were at best average, compensated by mainly the always outstanding music but hampered by being too twee and repetitive primarily and by the noticeably lower budget.
'Ghost of Honor' is one of the better later Casper cartoons, without being one of the best ones overall. It does contain some cloying and forgettable dialogue, with the obligatory use of Casper feeling sorry for himself late into the cartoon, and the story does drag in places (especially in the middle) with the lively parts being at the movie premiere and spotting other animated characters with the likes of Herman and Katnip making silent cameos.
Some of the animation is less than great too. Sure it has been much worse in previous cartoons between 'Boo Moon' and this, there are some nice colours and decent backgrounds but the cartoon does look as though it was made in a rush and on a low budget, the rough character designs of especially the human characters giving it away.
Best thing about 'Ghost of Honor' is the music score. Winston Sharples' music score here is typically merry and whimsical, it's beautifully orchestrated, energetic and adds so much to the mood, his music has always been one of the best assets of the Famous Studios cartoons and it's not an exception here. In fact how it's composed and how it meshes so well with everything going on in the animation, story and action contributes to it being the best thing about the cartoon.
While he is a character that won't click with everybody, Casper does win me over with his friendly nature and kindness for much of the cartoon. While there are elements of the usual plot elements in a Casper cartoon, 'Ghost of Honor' is significantly less repetitive and recycled than most Casper cartoons (and even Famous Studios cartoons in general) of this period. There are some gently amusing if never hilarious moments, and the voice acting is good enough.
In summary, a decent Casper cartoon and one of the better later ones if not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox
