Casper Meets Wendy

Casper Meets Wendy
Directed by Sean McNamara
Produced by Mike Elliott
Written by Jymn Magon
Based on Casper the Friendly Ghost 
by Seymour Reit
Joe Oriolo
Starring Cathy Moriarty-Gentile
Shelley Duvall
Teri Garr
George Hamilton
Hilary Duff
Richard Moll
Vincent Schiavelli
Blake Foster
Voices:
Jeremy Foley
Bill Farmer
Jim Ward
Jess Harnell
Music by Udi Harpaz
Cinematography Christian Sebaldt
Edited by John Gilbert
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release dates
  • September 22, 1998 (1998-09-22)
Running time
 94 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $6.4 million
Box office $30 million

Casper Meets Wendy is a 1998 direct-to-video film based on the Harvey Comics character Casper the Friendly Ghost. The film is a sequel to Casper: A Spirited Beginning while it being the second prequel/spin-offs to the 1995 film Casper. Haim Saban, best known for creating the Power Rangers, serves as an executive producer for this movie, and his production company, Saban Entertainment, was also involved. This was the first major film for Hilary Duff, who was nearly eleven years old when this film was released. It was released on September 22, 1998, and aired on October 27, 1998, four days before Halloween night, on Fox Family.

Plot

At the tail end of a Friday night baseball game, the home team wins by a narrow margin as the batter hits the ball out of the park. Both the celebration of the home team and fans and the dread of losing for the visiting team are cut short as a mysterious spaceship floats over the park, thus snatching the attention of everybody there: the players, the fans, the hot dog and popcorn vendors, and the announcer. After the ship performs a tune, it dissipates into three floating balls of light. One of them forms into a ghost who initially appears as an alien, but thereafter, is revealed to be Fatso (voiced by Jess Harnell), a member of The Ghostly Trio, who releases gas which hits the scoreboard, causing it to explode, also sparking terror. The other two ghosts of the trio, Stinky (voiced by Bill Farmer), and Stretch (voiced by Jim Ward), join in, causing panic in the park. Casper (voiced by Jeremy Foley), a shy, friendly ghost (whom all three ghosts are uncles to), arrives, attempting to settle the agitated crowd, but the people are just as scared of him as they are of the Ghostly Trio. The park is eventually empty, as Casper's uncles plan a vacation.

Meanwhile, an evil wizard named Desmond Spellman (George Hamilton) is settled down in his mansion. He is the greatest warlock to ever exist, until the Oracle (voiced by Pauly Shore) tells him that in the future 10-year-old Wendy the Good Little Witch (Hilary Duff) will be the greatest witch to ever exist, and Desmond plans to kill the "little mole rat", with the advised "Mystic Abyss". He creates two warlock enforcers: Jules (Richard Moll), and Vincent (Vincent Schiavelli) with a mix of chemicals in a food processor, exposure to thunder and lightning, and a spill over his catwalk balcony. He assigns them to go to Wendy's address (which the oracle printed on Desmonds' fax machine) and bring her to him. They prove what they think is a simple task by firing their hand guns through the wall.

Meanwhile, Wendy is living in the country with her three witch aunts Gerti (Cathy Moriarty), Gabby (Shelley Duvall), and Fanny (Teri Garr). While Wendy attempts to befriend the local paper boy, her aunts slingshot a green ball of goo at the boy, thus causing the newspapers to automatically slap him. Wendy is angered and tries to prove herself to them when Jules and Vincent arrive with the purpose of abducting her. They begin attacking with their hand guns. She and her aunts narrowly escape Desmond's men as Wendy turns their weapons into water guns and traps them in a cage. To keep Wendy safe from Desmond, she and her aunts hideout and vacation at a resort hotel, which is actually the same hotel in which Casper and his uncles are vacationing.

Casper and Wendy meet in a barn and, due to their nice personalities and having been bossed around by their respective relatives, they become great friends. They then realize that her aunts and his uncles might not get along with each other, because ghosts and witches are natural enemies. As a part of their plan to convince them to get along, he gets his uncles to haunt a dance, and she convinces her aunts to attend as well. The Ghostly Trio possess three men at the party and end up flirting with the three witches.

Though everything seems to go well, the plan is foiled when the possession wears off and the ghosts' real selves are revealed to Wendy's aunts, who bluffingly threaten them with magic. Later, Wendy tells Casper about Desmond and that she and her aunts can't use powerful magic or else Desmond will be able to track them down. She begs Casper not to tell anyone about this. Unfortunately, when the Trio suspects that Casper is protecting the witches, Casper is pressured into confessing that the witches cannot use their magic, prompting the Trio to attack Wendy and her aunts. Wendy feels she has no choice but to cast a spell on them, covering them in plaster. This action is picked up by Desmond's magic tracker.

Wendy is distraught that Casper broke his promise, and their friendship comes to an end. The witches are then attacked by Jules and Vincent. Before Wendy and her aunts have a chance to escape, Desmond arrives and tries to cast Wendy into the Mystic Abyss to kill her, but Casper dives in to save her. Her aunts try to fight Desmond but they aren't powerful enough. Luckily, before Desmond could kill the witches, a giant three-eyed monster pops up and frightens the evil warlock, turning the tables and causing him to fall into the Abyss instead. The monster turns out to be the Ghostly Trio, who combined together to defeat him. While they hold the Abyss open, Wendy's aunts pull her and Casper out of it. As they are now saved, Casper and Wendy reconcile their friendship. The Oracle proclaims that Wendy is the greatest witch because she did something no other witch ever could: she befriended a ghost (Casper).

Finally, Casper, his uncles, Wendy, and her aunts all bid each other goodbye, but Casper and Wendy reassure each other that they'll see each other again soon.

Cast

Main

Supporting

Cameo/Uncredited

Soundtrack alteration

In the original airing and VHS release of the film the Casper theme can be heard at the beginning performed by Sharna Halligan. In subsequent DVD releases the lyric is muted though the melody and sound effects remain intact and Halligan is still credited with performing the theme song.

Awards and nominations

Casper Meets Wendy won the Children’s Programming - Electronic Visual Effects award. Hilary Duff was nominated for a Young Artist Award.

See also

External links

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