Casper

Based on the comic-book character, Casper follows Bill Pullman’s James Harvey as he and his teen daughter (Christina Ricci’s Kat) move into a purportedly haunted mansion and, after a time, encounter the title figure (Malachi Pearson’s Casper) and his three ghostly uncles (Joe Nipote’s Stretch, Joe Alaskey’s Stinkie, and Brad Garrett’s Fatso). Filmmaker Brad Silberling, working from Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver’s screenplay, delivers a perpetually erratic yet mostly charming family comedy that benefits substantially from its old-fashioned sensibilities and raft of agreeable performances, with, in terms of the latter, Pullman and Ricci’s compelling, sympathetic efforts generally smoothing over the frequent narrative bumps and ensuring that the movie does, at the very least, boast an appealingly heartfelt atmosphere. It’s equally clear, however, that Casper‘s ongoing emphasis on excessively kid-friendly elements paves the way for an exceedingly hit-and-miss midsection, which, when coupled with a distressingly (yet predictably) frenetic climax, results in a second half that slowly-but-surely fizzles out to a rather unfortunate extent. By the time the unexpectedly touching finale rolls around, Casper has cemented its place as an erratic but generally passable adaptation that could’ve easily been much, much worse.

**1/2 out of ****