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 | reference to michael jackson | baseball | flying broomstick | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cathy Moriarty, who plays Wendy's aunt Gert in this film, originally played the role of villainess Carrigan in the first Casper movie.

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Goofs

When Josh and his friend take over the arcade game from the two girls, the side of the cabinet shows one of the Mortal Kombat fighting games, but Josh's dialogue and the sound effects seem to indicate some type of shooting game with many enemies on screen at one time.

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Quotes

Voice of Casper: You're late.
Wendy: My aunts locked me in! Ever crawl through a bathroom window?
Voice of Casper: No knees, remember?

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Crazy Credits

The clown shown in the Harvey Entertainment logo after end credits winks one eye

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Connections

Followed by Casper's Haunted Christmas (2000)

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Soundtracks

Don't Take Your Love
Performed by Paul Gordon
Written & Produced by Paul Gordon
Published by Eifoata Music/Harveytoons Music

User Reviews

Old-fashioned slapstick comedy for young children

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.

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