Good concept, poorly executed.

Better Late Then Never

Best movie ever!

Awesome Movie

Just one look at the trailer that IMDb has to offer should tell you to steer clear of this dreadful excuse for a prequel.However if you're a bit of a weirdo who likes to dip your toes into all sorts of random stuff, be my guest and take a nice seat.We kick things off with an incredibly awful song at the start of the film, it's enough to make you wanna fling the disc out of the window. The fact we have people like KC & The Sunshine Band doing the songs make you think "Dang, they must have been desperate." If you thought the pain was gonna stop there, oh no, for we must dig deeper into this soulless drivel.The film starts off all CG with a ghost train sequence... and oh man this CG looks as dated as a soggy can of tuna. Honestly, everyone looks really cut price and very TV like here, you'll swear they probably blew all the budget into getting some well known actors.Once Casper gets kicked off the train and lands in our world, things do not pick up... in fact it only gets worse from here.There is not a single ounce of humour to be found, not one single bit. Everyone running away from Casper in a cartoon-like style to me just doesn't cut the mustard and makes everyone looks like a bumbling idiot.The acting is quite purely dreadful from nearly everyone, most of these actors feel more at home on some rubbish CITV or CBBC sitcom that would get cancelled after only 10 eps or so.Steve Guttenberg continues to fall off the film chart, the child actor is grating to say the least and any film that has Pauly Shore in it (besides A Goofy Movie because he's hardly in it but whatever) should come with a warning sign attached to the cover.The only people coming out with any dignity is James Earl Jones who's good as the main villain besides the fact he's given nowt to do for most of the film, Bill Farmer, Jess Harnell and Jim Ward as Stinky, Fatso and Stretch who do fine despite the largely unfunny material they're given and possibly Lori Loughlin who does alright as well.And it's quite fun to see some cameos from people like Ben Stein, Michael McKean and even a pre Starship Troopers Casper Van Dein.But other than that, that is it, that's all this rubbish prequel has to offer in terms of goodness.The fact this piece of rubbish went straight to video should have immediately told people it ain't worth watching.And the fact that Saban made it too... it's starting to remind me way too much of Power Rangers now, god dammit.Go go Power Rangers?

I really like the 1995 original movie, it was cute and charming and worked really well as a family film. Casper and Wendy was mediocre and forgettable, but this movie was just a waste of time. The only half-decent things about it were the way the ghosts looked and the costume and set design. The other effects look cheap and the rushed editing doesn't give them any favours. The story is a mess, not only is it paced unevenly and thin, but like re-writing Casper's history it is so contradictory, while the script is deplorable severely lacking in genuine humour and heart, the slapstick is tedious and tired and other than Casper there are no likable characters. The acting is pretty much rubbish from almost all involved, with the ghostly uncle trio are more annoying than funny, in fact only Casper walks away with any dignity. All in all, awful and a waste of time. 1/10 Bethany Cox

This is the kind of attitude the original "Casper" should have had.In "Casper: A Spirited Beginning", the first film is basically forgotten as Casper finds himself thrown off a train headed for ghost-training camp an dlanding in Deedstown, where he manages to scare everybody except a small boy (Barrett)who happens to love ghosts but spends most of his time being bullied by other kids, mentored by a kind-hearted teacher (Loughlin) and trying to get the attention of his workaholic father (Guttenberg).But whereas the first movie's themes were a little too dark for all ages, this one basically touches on topics most kids can understand; being misunderstood, wanting their parents love, getting even with the bullies, making new friends and preserving local history (okay, maybe not ALL kids, but most of them).There are some great effects here, but not as dazzling as the ones in the first "Casper". You can how mechanical the FX make the ghosts move here, especially when they talk. Yet the voices for them are all well-done; Jones, Farmer, Harnell and Ward make the most of their parts as, respectively, Kibosh, the leader of the Ghost World, and the Ghostly Trio. But Pauly Shore is kind of a shock; he's actually a lot less annoying here as the voice of the ghost Snivel. Who would have thought THAT??!They even manage to make a semi-reference to "Mission: Impossible" half-way through. Didn't see that one coming, gotta hand it to them.All in all, a well-made effort that again makes "Casper" attainable for a whole new generation. Eight stars for "Casper: A Spirited Beginning", plus a half-star more for managing to make Pauly Shore tolerable.

This is by far one of the best kiddie movies ever to come out of Hollywood. How can you watch this movie and not fall in love with that adorable little ghost. Anytime CASPER is appearing in a new movie, you will see me first in line to make this little ghost a little richer!