Ghost world and witch world collide as Casper, the friendly ghost, falls in love with Wendy, the good little witch, played by...Hilary Duff?
--Randy
Casper Meets Wendy (1998)
Directors: Sean McNamara
Producers: Mike Elliot
Writers: Rob Kerchner And Jymn Magon
Features: Full Frame Format(Aspect Ratio 1.33:1), Interactive Menus, Scene Selection, Original Trailer, Featurette, Fox Flix Trailers, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround, Spanish Mono, With English And Spanish Subtitles.
Characters:
Wendy...Hilary Duff
Gabby...Shelley Duval
Desmond Spellman...George Hamilton
Geri...Cathy Moriarty
Fanny...Teri Garr
Mirror Oracle...Pauley Shore
Jules...Richard Moll
Vincent...Vincent Sciavelli
Lawyer...Ben Stein
Game Announcer...Alan Thicke
Bystander...Casper Van Dien
Playmate Fanny...Maria Ford
Genre: Family
Review:
How come this comic book movie team-up went unnoticed? While the world watched Freddy and Jason cavort in their movie and the Predators take on the Aliens this cinematic gem lay gathering dust in the elephant graveyard of DVD's called the bargain bin. Witch world meets ghost world with horribly innocuous results. After all, "Casper Meets Wendy" is little more than an ABC After School type movie made for television that probably had a nighttime debut in 1998. Casper, the Friendly Ghost, had already had his film debut on the big screen. After that he appeared in some staight to video movies, but apparently made a stop off to try to launch a Wendy, the Good Little Witch, television series to take on or complement "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" series. I'm just speculating there, but the time frame looks right. I guess this plan, if it actually existed, fell through. Now all that is left is the movie that introduced a young Hilary Duff to the world. You see, Hilary Duff plays Wendy in this feature. She was probably ten or eleven at this time though looking much younger due to her small stature. Even today Hilary Duff is still very short for her age.
"Casper Meets Wendy" starts off as a small town baseball team is interrupted at their game by a giant flying saucer that looks like the one from "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind." Out of it's portals come four whitish globules of ghostly matter that take the form of Casper and his uncles, the Ghostly Trio, seemingly back on earth from some adventure in a prior made for video movie. After scaring away the nearby humans the Ghostly Trio decide they need a vacation and find a nearby resort to haunt. In the meantime, the most powerful warlock going, Desmond Spellman(George Hamilton), has learned through his Oracle Mirror, that has the face of comedian Pauley Shore, that he is no longer the most powerful witch anymore. Now there is a young witch named Wendy who has that honor. To get rid of this obstacle to his pride, Spellman creates two gangster looking goons played by Richard Moll("Night Court") and Vincent Sciavelli("Ghost"). Having failed at their initial outing to destroy Wendy and her three witch aunts whom Wendy lives with, the gruesome twosome are called back by Spellman. The witches have vanished now and gone into hiding, and where would they decide to go incognito but the very same resort that Casper and the Ghostly Trio have decided to reside.
Casper and the Ghostly Trio are CGI as in all their movies. Wendy's witch aunts are played by some pretty hefty names and I'm not just talking about all the weight the actresses have gained over the years either. Cathy Moriarty("Raging Bull") plays the leader while Shelley Duvall("The Shining") and Teri Garr("Close Encounters Of The Third Kind") are her witchy sisters. All the acting is over the top. Everything is greatly exagerated as one might surmise a kid's television movie might be. George Hamilton hams it up anywhere and anytime he can. The colors of the sets and costumes are very vivid and unreal as if to assure the kiddies that this supernatural world cannot possibly be real. No use upsetting the parents with children that are too afraid to go to bed at night. The special effects are nicely done with the ghosts showing no curtailment in screen quality due to this television movie not having a big screen budget.
This Hilary Duff looks much younger and thinner than her current day alter ego. This more youthful version has a vivacious bounce in her step and in everything she does. She is all over the place and looks like a six or seven year old girl. Her hair is a dirty blonde: not like Hilary Duff's blonde on blonde hair of today. I must applaud the director, Sean McNamara, for using Wendy's original red comic book costume as much as possible in this film. In this movie Hilary Duff does only magic and broom riding. There are no musical numbers from her. Young Hilary Duff has great facial expressions and acts very well. She does a better job and seems more at ease than today's Hilary Duff is with her recent film roles. It is easy to see how this youngster made it over to the Disney Studios.
Even though this is a kids' movie, "Casper Meets Wendy" is rated PG. Maybe it was the scene where one of the Ghostly Trio sneezed a bucket load of greenish snot on a human or maybe it was for Casper getting flushed down the toilet. Then again Wendy's aunts were a little raucous with the male staff at the resort including a general fondling of actor Casper Van Dien in a walk-on role. With a first name like Casper how could you not think of him when you think of Casper the Friendly Ghost. I think Casper Van Dien had a bit part in an earlier Casper movie so it shows he and the director have a sense of humor.
For what it is, "Casper Meets Wendy" is a success. I found the tongue-in-cheek acting able to carry the film and give it an appeal for adults as well as children. Well, adults that expected a kid film, anyway. The DVD movie is in full frame which is to be expected since it was made for television. The sound is in Surround Sound which sounds great. There is a featurette on the DVD lasting seven to eight minutes with Hilary Duff, George Hamilton, Cathy Moriarty, Teri Garr and Shelley Duvall making praiseworthy comments about the film and each other. One CGI man says that "Casper Meets Wendy" had more special effects in it than the movie "Titanic." There is also a trailer for this film on the DVD and a Fox Flix section with five more movie trailers including one for "Casper: A New Spirited Beginning" which was directed by Sean McNamara.
As for Wendy, the Good Little Witch,'s history in comic book form; she first appeared in Casper, The Friendly Ghost number twenty, published in 1954, though I don't know if she had a separate feature or met Casper at that time. Later she got her own comic book which isn't around today.
I would give this movie four stars out of five for being a very good translation from comic book to film outing. And look at the star power in this movie!
----Randy