Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageCasper (1995)
Director: Brad Silberling
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Lonely guy he may be, but the incorporeal, 'living-impaired' kid of the title occupies a haunted manor like Xanadu, remodelled by Gaudi in expansive mood. The set design, however, merely disguises what is in fact an intimate and likeable picture. As a part-animated live-action movie, it harks back to less frenetic kids' fare from the '60s like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, rather than, say, the 'toon-laden Roger Rabbit. In fact, despite the sophistication of the computer-generated special effects, Casper and the house's three ghostly stooges are the only non-'fleshies'; for the rest, the priest's neck twists Death Becomes Her-style, there's some gentle fun with objects (coffee poured horizontally), and whirlwinds released by screams. The plot's perfunctory: Casper's a lonely channel-hopper who falls for the daughter (Ricci) of ghost therapist Dr Harvey (a winning, soft-centred Pullman), who's employed to exorcise the house - which contains treasure - by scheming Carrigan (Moriarty) and her dozy helpmate Dibs (Idle, playing his usual annoying English twit).Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Brad Silberling
Producer: Colin Wilson
Cast: Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle, Chauncey Leopardi, Amy Brenneman, Dan Aykroyd full cast
Genre(s): Children's
Duration: 100 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now