Casper e Wendy - Una magica amicizia

The main reason I decided to see 'Casper meets Wendy' was the fact that it was the first one that Hilary Duff acted in apart from being an uncredited extra in 'True Women'.

The leading male character is Casper, an animated child ghost, and the leading female character is Wendy, a girl witch, played by the then inexperienced Hilary Duff. Although the plot, which is kept simple so that the target viewers, young children, have no difficulties in following it, is about the forbidden friendship between Casper and Wendy, in a way a prepubertal 'Romeo and Juliet', the main vehicles for humour are the adult witches and ghosts, the latter contributing many of the slapstick elements.

Adults watching this film, who may well be the parents of the members of the target group, may well find some amusement in the deadpan reactions of most of the adults who take no part in the storyline, but witness some of the extraordinary behaviour of the witches and ghosts. Many adults even enjoy some slapstick humour, and may well find it rewarding to see the more riotous scenes, particularly in the company of some members of the target group. The sartorially-minded will quite probably enjoy the frequent and extreme changes of clothing by the one child and three adult witches. Finally, it is quite interesting to see the main message of 'Romeo and Juliet', 'West Side Story', 'The Color of Friendship' and many other works of art, that it is wrong to stand in the way of friendships simply because two people have different backgrounds, conveyed by a film made for such young viewers.

The casting was brilliant. All of the characters seemed perfectly suited to their role in the proceedings. As the star of the non-animated cast, Hilary Duff displayed a sufficient variety of emotions to keep the viewer involved in the uncomplicated story, while avoiding extremities which could have extended the film into something too dramatic for very young children. It would be unfair, however, to compare her performance with that of the then inexperienced Reese Witherspoon in 'The Man in the Moon', which is of necessity a far more mature and rounded portrayal of the leading character, since it is a very moving and dramatic story. Apart from that, Reese Witherspoon was a few years older when she played the role of Dani Trant.

Personally, I got rather bored by so many slapstick scenes in 'Casper meets Wendy', but I have seen many films that are a lot worse.

For those who our Casper fans of the original movie from 1995 and the classic cartoons that started it all it's an okay movie in my opinion, not as worse than "Casper: a Spirited Beginning" the story itself is kinda cheesy in 90s standards, the characters are good in my opinion since actor George Hamilton does end up playing a warlock in this movie and even Pauly Shore playing the Oracle sounds bland in which they rip off the magic mirror from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. even the strangest part of the movie is that witches hate ghosts and ghost hate witches which is kinda like the Mccoys and the Hatfields fued to be exact and not to mention a Close Encounters of the Third Kind reference at the beginning of this film during the scene in the baseball game, and no surprisely Hilary Duff (before she was in Lizzie McGuire) does a great job playing Wendy and even Teri Garr, Shelley Duvall and Cathy Moriarty (who previously was in the first Casper movie from 1995 as I said before) did a good job playing her 3 aunts, still this movie might have some gross out humor and some mild scary scenes at some point than it's quite considered a family flick to watch in my opinion.

The casper2+3 movies are more meant for kids ...

As adults everybody is giving bad reviews.. But its not that bad, enjoy the movie it definitely is a5-6star rating... Just the story in these movies went more towards kids. Funny stuff (for kids) it has new characters witches and bad guy and everything , they couldnt be much more good. Enjoy it.

Nice children's movie. Fun and full of good feelings. A little cheesy but in line with the character of Casper, the child ghost that everyone loves.

Definitely simpler than the original 1995 film and with much lighter themes.

I have seen much worse movies, and Casper:A Spirited Beginning is worse in my opinion than Casper Meets Wendy. Casper Meets Wendy in my opinion is not a good movie, more mediocre for my tastes, but it could have been much worse.

PROS: The costume and set design is excellent and the film's photography is quite good. The music is decent, and Hilary Duff does a good job as Wendy. Also Casper is still very cute.

CONS: I love the ghostly uncle trio as characters, and while they are well-voiced and look good I cannot say the same for their dialogue and slapstick. In general the script is weak, the effects aside from the ghosts look rather slap-dash and the slapstick is tired and generic. I liked the inclusion of Cathy Moriaty and George Hamilton, but was disappointed in their performances, for my money Moriaty is better as a villainess and Hamilton is so over-the-top his character becomes annoying and ineffectual. The film is too short and too rushed for my tastes too, making the predictable story seem even thinner than it already is.

In conclusion, a mediocre movie but I have seen much worse in all honesty. 4/10 Bethany Cox