Casper Meets Wendy (1998)

Casper, a ghost, teams up with Wendy, a witch, against an evil warlock.

Director:

Sean McNamara

Writers:

Jymn Magon (screenplay), Jymn Magon (story)

Stars:

Cathy Moriarty, Shelley Duvall, Teri Garr

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cathy Moriarty	...	Geri
Shelley Duvall	...	Gabby
Teri Garr	...	Fanny
George Hamilton	...	Desmond Spellman
Hilary Duff	...	Wendy
Richard Moll	...	Jules
Vincent Schiavelli	...	Vincent
Blake Foster	...	Josh Jackson
Rodger Halston	...	Larry Tullby
Michael McDonald	...	Spike-Stretch (as Michael James McDonald)
Travis McKenna	...	Phil-Fatso
Patrick Richwood	...	Vinne-Stinky
Alan Thicke	...	Baseball Announcer
Casper Van Dien	...	Crewcut Hunk
Billy Burnette	...	Chef

Storyline

Living under the care of his uncles: The Ghostly Trio, Casper has been letting them push him around and making his afterlife miserable by having him do chores for them while they are scaring "fleshes" for their amusement. While taking a vacation, Casper meets with a good little witch girl named Wendy, whom she and her bewitching aunts are on the run from an evil warlock: Desmond Spellman who attempts on destroying her after discovering that she will be a greater witch than him. Like Casper, Wendy is a kind witch who also has her relatives mistreating her. The two become good friends as they discover that ghosts and witches are each other's worst enemies, so they come up with a plan to make their elders pair up to one another. Once Desmond comes into town, he determines to destroy Wendy at once. It is now up to Casper as he must get the courage to convince his uncles to help him to save his friend and her aunts from the villainous warlock.

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Plot Keywords:

actress | actresses | witch | ghost | warlock | 

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Taglines:

A Bewitching New Live-Action Movie!

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild scary scenes, some thematic elements and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 1998 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Casper Meets Wendy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Saban Entertainment,The Harvey Entertainment Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Stereo)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the three witches approach the Crewcut Hunk, portrayed by Casper Van Dien, he quickly escapes their clutches by proclaiming "Sorry ladies, I've got to go and kill some bugs". This is referencing Caspers portrayal of Johnny Rico in Starship Trooper where they go around defending themselves from giant interplanetary insect type creatures, code named Bugs.

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Goofs

When Desmond first sees the magical static on his locating equipment, the location marker is in an area on the Montana-Canada border. Later in the film, when the location marker appears again, it is in an area on the east coast.

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Quotes

Wendy: Casper?
Voice of Casper: Yeah?
Wendy: I know this is gonna sound really lame and all, but this has been the best day of my life!
Voice of Casper: Me too! Well, except for the life part.

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Connections

Spoofs Pulp Fiction (1994)

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Soundtracks

Shake It Up
Performed by Cookie Avalon
Produced by Paul Gordon
Written by Haim Saban (as Kussa Mahchi), Shuki Levy & Cheryl Saban
Published by Eifoata Music/Kikunia Music

User Reviews

A Fun, Wonderful Family Film!!! I LOVED it!

Hilary Duff AAA+++ & George Hamilton AA++

I must say that this is one of the sweetest, cutest films ever made.

Hilary Duff is arguably the most beautiful young girl ever to star in a Hollywood movie...on par with Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby... and her lead role as Wendy the Good Little Witch is brightened up with the alluring spunk and childish impishness that thematically imbues this delightful comic book tale with Good over Evil.

As an aside, Hilary's youthful voice with that cute-as-pie chipmunk quality ensures that she is not another one of Hollywood's too-old adolescents trying to play the part of a child. Hilary was the PERFECT choice to play Wendy. She was breathtaking in her winsome appeal before the camera and in her interpretation of the comic book Wendy as I've come to know of her over the years.

And to be sure, George Hamilton as Desmond Spellman the evil Warlock is a perfect choice for the role of the heavy...along with his trademark "Is my hair OK?" self-indulgence and his magical way of being a really bad guy while still being fun. Hamilton is a real meanie, but in a light enough way that the whole family can watch without fear of foul words being uttered from his mouth, or some vulgar ethnic South Central L.A. ghetto gestures that are too overused today in too many movies today. Hamilton brings a classy elegance to the role of a villain we can hate, but like at the same time.

Wendy's aunts and the Casper's 'uncles' are played beyond perfection by each gifted actor/actress in those roles. They are hilariously funny, outlandish and perfect imitations of what the comic books and prior movies have led us to know them to be, all these years. Not remarkably it was like watching my favorite paperback episode come to life. You loved them all, but you really enjoyed it most when Wendy and Casper would achieve the upper hand.

One can read other reviews where ''hate' and 'vitriol' seem to be the main focus of the reviewer's diatribes. But I think it is clear that this movie is much more magical to a younger child or to an adult who appreciates sweet things. This is sugar on candy and there is no use pretending it was meant to be more.

Anyone reading the scathing ululations of some of the other critics, please keep in mind that for the most part those critiques appear to be worse than the movie they imagine they viewed.

Casper Meets Wendy was meant as clean, dear family viewing, where the younger children and their loving parents are the targets of the director's audience...no one else. And in this sense, Casper Meets Wendy succeeded spectacularly well. My family adored it and my children, boys and girls, ask to see it over and over again.

Hilary Duff was tremendously successful in her role as Wendy and when we first viewed Casper Meets Wendy it was an experience akin to love at first sight. Love for the gentleness and caring that comes from within Hilary's young heart...appreciation for the prettiness of Hilary Duff...and warm and cuddly feelings for the sweetness we have learned to expect in both Wendy the Good Little Witch and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

This is a movie where the whole family can laugh at the wonderful special effects and the gaiety in the movie from the beginning all the way to its happy conclusion.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Wendy Meets Casper can only be given a full 10!

10 points for Hilary Duff as the perfectly enchanting Wendy.

10 points for all the fab actors and actresses playing the co-lead and support roles

10 points for the storyline...a truly magical event 10 points for the special effects

10 points for Wendy in her dancing dress...*blushes

All in all, a must see for every family.