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"Aw, every time. All I want's a friend."

―Casper, after a group a construction workers being scared away by his not so friendly uncles.


Casper McFadden is the main protagonist of the 1995 Casper feature film. He also appears in the animated spin-off The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper. In the feature film and the animated spin-off he is voiced by Malachi Pearson. In human form he is played by Devon Sawa. He is the ghost of a 12 year old boy who died from pneumonia after staying out too long in the snow to play with his new sled which his father had gotten for him. He is infatuated with Kathleen "Kat" Harvey.

At the end of the film, he briefly becomes human with help from Kat's late mother Amelia but soon turns back into a ghost again when the clock strikes at 10.

Character Summary[]

Casper has been haunting his family home of Whipstaff Manor for some time, most likely decades after he died for playing out in the cold for too long when he was twelve years old. A newspaper seen during the scene in the attic says he died from pneumonia. Now in the care of his three wicked uncles, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso, Casper's afterlife is not exactly pleasant. He has had to put up with his uncles' outrageous antics and his wish to gain a friend is always ruined. Casper is very friendly and outgoing, but he sometimes appears rather shy. He has a crush on Kathleen "Kat" Harvey.

Appearance[]

As a ghost, Casper McFadden is shaped as a transparent figure with some visible lights that can be seen on him when he moves or gets close to people. He hovers and flies around to get to locations with quick ease. To avoid frightening others, he can turn himself completely invisible at will. In his ghost form, he has no hair and has big blue eyes.

When he is human again for a temporary time, he is given back his original visage. As a mortal, he is the average height of a boy his age, with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. To Kat's surprise, Casper was very handsome. He still manages to retain some of his ghostly abilities as when he and Kat are dancing at her Halloween party, he levitates the two of them in the air. This might be due to the fact that his human form isn't permanently complete but for only that one night.

Casper[]

The Friendly Ghost[]

When two boys enter Whipstaff Manor on a dare from some school bullies, they argue over which one should take the picture until a voice is heard off-screen telling them to stop fighting, a spectral entity swipes the camera from their hands and takes the picture himself which scares the two boys away.

The next night Carrigan Crittenden and her attorney Paul "Dibs" Plutzker enter Whipstaff Manor to look for a valuable treasure which Carrigan believes is from her late father. Once again, the voice that scared the two boys away says, "Hello?" After a few words from Dibs, they demand him to show himself but when he tells them not to scream, Carrigan demands that if he doesn't show himself right now she will have him arrested for trespassing. The voice agrees and replies, "Here I come." Suddenly, a small child-like ghost slides down from the stairway and lands in front of Carrigan and Dibs. He greets them warmly with, "Hi! I'm Casper!" Terrified Carrigan and Dibs let out their screams but Casper tries to calm them telling them not to scream or they will wake his.....but says, "Too late." when he hears the sound of his uncles The Ghostly Trio and disappears as they were rising from the foyer forming a whirlwind tornado to scare away Carrigan and Dibs. Carrigan and Dibs try several attempts to remove the ghosts from the mansion but are unsuccessful. When the Ghostly Trio scare away a construction crew Casper tries to stop them from leaving but the terrified workers successfully escape. Lamenting Casper breaks down saying that all he wants is a friend.

Finding a friend[]

While Casper is watching Mr. Rogers on TV in the attic bored and flipping through channels, he switches to a news report about an afterlife therapist named Dr. James Harvey who discusses the summary of ghosts. He explains that ghosts are simply spirits that have unfinished business on Earth and that as an "afterlife therapist" he tries to help ghosts come to terms with their "unfinished business" so they can cross over into the next world. When his daughter Kathleen "Kat" Harvey is shown on the TV, Casper, seeing how beautiful she looks, instantly falls for her. Remembering Carrigan, Casper files through an electrical cord and zooms to a nearby motel where Carrigan is ordering room service. Casper uses the TV in the room to show Carrigan the story about Dr. Harvey. She watches the story where a woman explains her husband died years ago, but his spirit wouldn't leave the apartment, so she called Dr. Harvey and in a few weeks her husband's spirit left. Carrigan, upon watching the report, decides to contact Dr. Harvey.

The Harveys arrive at Whipstaff Manor[]

When Kat and her father arrive at Whipstaff Manor, they meet Carrigan and Dibs with Carrigan ordering Dr. Harvey to remove the ghosts as quickly as possible. When Kat and her father enter the manor, they look around and become amazed at how amazing it looks while Kat goes upstairs to find a room to settle in. Once Casper sees that Kat has finally come to his house, he gets excited seeing that things are going exactly the way he anticipated but started to panic wondering whether or not if she'll like him and tries to find a way to introduce himself to her. He then hears a sound coming from the basement where Dr. Harvey turns on the electricity. After the father and daughter talk, Kat goes back upstairs to find a room.

She soon after finds Casper's uncles Stretch, Fatso, and Stinkie's room and ignores it, after being confused on the names printed on the beds, to this she says "I wonder where Doc and Dopey sleep?". Soon after though Kat finds Casper's room and chooses to settle in. As Casper watches while Kat unpacks and lies on his bed he gets lovestruck and says, "There's a girl... on my bed. YES!". He hides in the closet and tries to say hi when she opens the door, but she accidentally drops her stuff on his head before closing the door. When Kat lies down on the bed again, Casper shapeshifts into the form of a pillow as she unknowingly lays her head on to him, and punches him like an actual pillow. She resumes unpacking as Casper cautiously approaches her. She unintentionally throws a ball of socks in his mouth. When he spits it out and it hits the floor flying past her, he goes blank with his eyes wide open realizing his mistake, as Kat stood up in fear. Her eyes were also wide open, as she turns around and with a frightening look, she stares at Casper upon seeing a real ghost for the first time. Nervous and scared, he says "Uhh, hi?" which causes her to go cross-eyes and she faints, falling to the floor unconscious. In his bad karma, Casper goes "Aww, man" and goes to the bathroom to add water to his body adding that he made a bad first impression, He returns to the room and rings himself out like a towel over her so she can wake up. Upon regaining consciousness Kat's eyes clear, when she sees Casper, and when he asks her, "Better?", she breaks into one big scream. Backing up in fright, Casper screams as well until he hears Dr. Harvey coming up the stairs and immediately disappears.

Dr. Harvey calms his daughter down and asks her what's wrong. She claims she's seen a ghost but he assures her that ghosts can't hurt her and that they're simply spirits with unfinished business. Soon after searching the room he opens a closet and assures Kat that no one is in there seeing the look on her face he turns, and sees Casper standing in the doorway. He greets him warmly "Pleasure to meet you sir" as he sticks out his hand for a handshake. Dr. Harvey, however, seeing a real ghost for the first time breaks into a terrified scream, grabs his daughter and runs down the hallway. Dr. Harvey frantically takes his daughter into a closet and tells her to stay there while he confronts the ghost by himself. Before he leaves, Kat apologizes to her father for not believing him and thinking he was a loser. Casper back in his room gets upset and frustrated, as his plan in befriending Kat seems to backfire until he hears his uncles: The Ghostly Trio returning home from a night's hauntings. Casper tries to stall them by convincing them to eat outside, but they realize that he's trying to keep them out of the house and shoot him into the sky like a rubber band. With Casper out of the way, the Trio finds Dr. Harvey and begin attacking him. He ends up fighting them back just as Casper returns to the house, and hearing noise from the closet he unlocks it freeing Kat and she falls on top of him. When he worryingly asks her if she's okay, she gasps and runs away screaming. She returns to the foyer where she finds her father fighting with the three ghosts. He eventually defeats them by sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner.

The Bonding[]

The next morning, Kat enters the kitchen, first clearing the area with a hand-held vacuum. Casper meets her there, but before she could scream again he wraps himself around her face and mouth to prevent her from doing so. He manages to explain to her that he's a friendly ghost warning her that if she screams it will wake up his uncles and they will get awfully cranky. He lets her go, and she tells him "You're so cold" rubbing her face and referring to his body temperature. As Casper serves Kat breakfast and entertains her with questions about what it's like to be a ghost, the two begin to bond. They touch hands as her hand goes through his, she smiles and says "Cool". Dr. Harvey soon enters the kitchen still agitated after last night, and Casper serves him as well. Casper asks him if he can get him a newspaper and Dr. Harvey accepts. After Casper leaves, the two are about to eat until the Ghostly trio arrives like helicopters frightening both the father and daughter. Stretch slams his fist on the table, and says "I love the smell of fleshies in the morning". Soon sunlight in engulfs the room, and the Ghostly Trio appears to have melted to death. Dr. Harvey assumes that they have crossed over, but he becomes wrong as they appear on the right of the room with Stretch saying "Guess again bone bag!!". Dr. Harvey greets them warmly "Fellas....good morning". When Casper returns with the paper for Dr. Harvey, Stretch becomes angry at him for serving the "intruders" before them. When Casper tries cleaning the floor while they are eating, Stretch confronts him saying that the floor used to be dirty enough to eat off of. Casper points out to his uncle that they have company, but Stretch retaliates by claiming company loves misery. He turns into a Nike shoe and kicks Casper away. Kat tries to defend Casper saying that he was cleaning the floor, but her father hurries her off to school.

Following Kat to School[]

Later after Kat arrives at school the teacher of the classroom Mr. Curtis announces to the students that their Halloween party is canceled. One of the students, Amber Whitmire, stands up and suggests that since her parents cleaned the boathouse, it won't be any problem having the party at her place. The class reluctantly applauds as Amber sits back down.

When Kat is introduced by her last name, Amber makes fun of her name by going ".....HARVEY" as the class laughs. While Mr. Curtis reprimands Amber, Kat stands to the front of the class and sees Casper on a Mount Rushmore portrait with his face replacing Washington; he angrily stares at Amber before turning and smiling at Kat. As she corrects her name for Mr. Curtis by telling him to call her Kat, Amber again picks on Kat saying "meow". causing the class to laugh again. As Kat explains why she moved to Friendship, Maine, from Santa Fe in New Mexico, Casper ties Amber's shoelaces together before the other kids as he plans to have them trip over them in retaliation for treating Kat badly (which they were all unaware of).

When Kat soon reveals that she lives in Whipstaff Manor, the class becomes shocked, since most of them have all heard of it, and they decide to have the upcoming Halloween dance there. Amber stands up and protests, saying that she thought they were going to have the party at her place. So she suggests that they take a vote, but is angry when she notices she's the only who votes for holding the party at her place. The class votes to have the party at Whipstaff. When the bell rings for the next classes, everyone gets up to leave, but they all trip over their shoelaces since Casper tied all of them together.

Party Planning[]

Later another student at Kat's school Victor "Vic" DePhilippi, arrives at Whipstaff Manor and meets with Kat. When he asks if he can come inside Kat says no and that they should stay outside. As Casper watches with jealously, Vic asks Kat if she had asked her dad about the party, as Kat looks at Casper, and knowing he is jealous she says yes and that her father "kinda hit the ceiling" so Vic asks her to the Halloween dance and she agrees. As Vic walks away an excited Kat whispers "Yes!!" before going back inside the manor. Vic, however, is revealed to be in cahoots with Amber as she suggests that he ask out Kat, as a plan to get back at her, although he shows that he doesn't like the idea.

The Lighthouse[]

Later on, that night as Kat gets ready for bed, Casper appears in her music box showing Kat that he's a good dancer. After some more taunting around the room, he soon reveals he was showing signs of being jealous of Vic, but Kat is insistent that she can't go to the Halloween dance with a ghost claiming that she has a date. When he asks her what Vic has that he doesn't have, she answers a pulse and a tan, but Casper explains he has those traits She asks "how about a reflection?" Casper looks in the mirror to see if he has one which he doesn't. but covers for it by deciding to make an impression. He asks if he can do this. He changes himself into a superman like person and quotes terminator " Come with me if you want to live" Casper pulls Kat by the arm outside and nearly causes her to fall but manages to catch her. He takes her to a lighthouse where he reveals that this is where he comes here every night to think. When she asks him about his life, he realizes that he doesn't remember any of it. When he asks her if it is that bad, she denies it and replies that its just kind of sad.

In Bed[]

While they are lying in bed together, she says that she wonders why he doesn't remember anything. He sadly informs her that, when you're a ghost, none of that really matters anymore. She says that sometimes she forgets things. Like her mother Amelia when she was alive, the sound of her making breakfast downstairs, the way she would put on her lipstick so carefully, and her soap that she bathed in, when she hugged her she breathe in so deep, and how every night before she would to sleep her mother would whisper in her ear, "Stardust in the eyes rosy cheeks and a happy girl in the morning." When Kat asks Casper that if her mom was a ghost would she forget her, Casper replies, "No she never forget you." Casper in return asks Kat that if he was alive would she go to the Halloween dance with him, while Kat agrees sleepily. Casper asks her in a whisperer "Can i Keep you?" As she happily sleeps, Casper kisses her on the cheek. Since his ghostly body temperature is cold, Kat, thinking that its the wind, asks him, "Close the window, its cold." Casper goes to sleep alongside Kat.

The Attic[]

The next day, Kat goes up to the attic and finds a hidden room which was Casper's former bedroom. She cleans the mold off the windows and sees some old crates which are dusty. She blows the dust off to reveal a name that says C. McFadden and opens the crate revealing some of Casper's old possessions from when he was alive, she opens all of the crates and turns each of the toys on as she waits for him to come up to the attic. Casper, hearing the noise goes up to the attic, and files over to the hidden room where Kat has expected his arrival, she happily says "Its about time" and giggles as he enters the room and confusingly looks around. She asks him, "Look familiar?" and he soon starts to remember who he was and his old life. Casper, having gotten his memories back, swoops to an old chest as Kat follows where he finds his mothers old wedding gown. He decides to let Kat try it on and he fits her with the dress telling her that it was his mother's. Kat asks if she can try it out and he agrees. As she ties the back of the dress up while looking in the mirror she compliments that its perfect, and asks him if he thinks she could wear it to the party tonight. Casper soon finds an old sled which causes him to remember how he died, he then begins to explain his death to Kat:

I begged and begged my dad to give me this sled, but he acted like I couldn't even have it, because I didn't know how to ride. But then one morning, I came down for breakfast and there it was, just for me, for no reason at all. I took it out, went sledding all day. My dad said "that's enough," but I couldn't stop I was having so much fun. It got late...got dark...got cold...and I got sick. My dad got sad...

Kat asks him what its like to die, and Casper said it was like being born only backwards he didn't go where he was supposed to go so he just stayed behind so his dad won't be lonely. Kat looks down and finds an old newspaper article with his dad's picture on it. She asks if that's his dad, and he says yes. She reads the article which explains how Casper's father, a great Inventor, claim that he was haunted by the ghost of his dead son and invented a machine that can bring him back to life called the Lazarus. However, he was sent to an insane asylum before it could be completed.

The Lazarus[]

Realizing that this could be his chance to come back to life, Casper begins to take Kat to his father's secret laboratory, having her guided by a moving chair which leads to a hidden passage underneath the floorboards of the library. The laboratory is filled with various steam punk-esque contraptions, including the Lazarus. Kat activates the machine by pushing a button on an old Frankenstein book. Carrigan and Dibs who saw, Dr. Harvey being taken out of the house by the Ghostly Trio in the library have now entered the house to find the treasure. They follow Casper and Kat to the laboratory finding out it also contains the vault leading to the treasure which they are looking for. Meanwhile, on the machine Kat finds a glass capsule containing just enough of what Casper describes as "Kind of an instant primordial soup mix" which what brings ghosts back to life, but just enough for one. After Casper puts the capsule in the turning, vent he asks Kat to pull the lever. She confusingly asks "which one?", He says he doesn't know, and suggests she try one. She pulls one lever which has the machine's door open. As Casper is about to step inside Kat tries to warn him, but he tells her "I'm gonna to be alive" and steps inside as the door closes. While Kat is using the machine to operate it, Carrigan and Dibs unable to open the vault since its locked steal the capsule from the machine leaving Casper disappointed when he turns into an egg yolk.

Carrigan and Dibs who now have the capsule realizes that if one of them were to die, they could go through the vault door, get the treasure out and come back to life with the Lazarus machine. Not able to decide which one of them should die, they make several attempts to kill each other. This culminates with Carrigan falling to her death from a cliff and dies. She quickly reappears as a monstrous ghost. A caricature of her human self.

Carrigan's Ghost[]

While Kat uses a dust bellow to reinflate Casper, she stops when his head pops back up and he says "I think my ears just popped". Suddenly, greedy Carrigan now a monstrous ghost, flies into the laboratory and grabs the treasure chest inside the vault attempting to take it. Casper is in shock claiming that its his treasure, but Carrigan bellows "You mean MY!! treasure" Kat is shocked to see Miss Crittenden as a ghost and she replies "In the flesh...well in a couple of minutes", and does an evil laugh. Dibs soon reappears and shows Carrigan the capsule to help her remember. Kat realizes that Dibs stole the capsule and claims it's Casper's. Carrigan laughs and disagrees again as she orders Dibs to revive her. Just as he approaches, Casper steals the capsule back from Dibs, knocks him into the moat of the laboratory, and takes Kat back upstairs with the moving chair where she greets the kids who have arrived for the Halloween party.

Dibs's betrayal and Carrigan Crossing Over[]

Casper and Kat return back to the laboratory, where Kat stops Casper from confronting Dibs for opening his treasure. They install the potion into the Lazarus only to find Carrigan inside the machine telling Casper that its her turn in the oven. She orders Dibs to turn her human again, but he turns on her saying that they are through and that he will be using the treasure in a great big expensive house with lovely purple wall paper and great big green carpets and adopt a little dog called Carrigan "a b**ch just like you". Carrigan gasps at Dibs's betrayal, and says she has no intention of staying dead. He proclaims that he's got the power and he's got the treasure which prompts her to angrily fling him out a window. Casper and Kat point out that people only become ghosts because they have "unfinished business" and ask Carrigan what hers is. Carrigan naively declares that she has no unfinished business, saying that she has her treasure and her mansion "i have everything im just perfect", and gloats with an evil laugh again. Unfortunately for her, she starts to cross-over to the afterlife against her will, as the treasure *was* her unfinished business. The terrified Carrigan begs and pleads but it is no use. She crosses over to the afterlife, forced to remain dead forever. After she explodes, the capsule she was holding flies through the air but before it could hit the ground Kat manages to catch it. The treasure chest also falls to the floor and opens, revealing the "treasure" was actually a baseball autographed by Duke Snider, Casper's favorite player from the Brooklyn Dodgers, thus revealing the so-called treasure would have been worthless to Carrigan and that she essentially died for nothing. While he tosses the ball into the air, Kat grabs it and tells Casper that its time, reminding him of his wish to come back to life.

Dr. Harvey's Ghost[]

Just as Casper and Kat are about to use the machine to bring Casper back to life, Dr. Harvey shows up as a ghost having died accidentally while he was out at a bar with the Ghostly Trio, (he got drunk and fell into an open trench) and he flies into the laboratory with the Ghostly Trio. As a ghost, he is now loud and obnoxious like the trio, but he apparently has no memory of his daughter. Kat shockingly asks the trio what they have done to him and Stretch responds with "nothing he's just a little....dead". While Casper's uncles are very pleased with this, Kat is driven to tears. However, when she makes the gesture of the pinky promise with her ghostly father to remind him of who he is, Dr. Harvey realizes that he has died and he left his daughter behind without a father. Realizing that Kat can't live by having to lose another parent, Casper decides that Dr. Harvey must be brought back to life instead. He uses the Lazarus to revive him thereby giving up his last chance to be alive himself again, and being forced to remain a ghost. Kat and her father embrace each other after he steps out of the machine, he happily tells her that he thought they almost lost each other for a minute there. Just as everyone upstairs starts the music Casper sadly tells Kat that her party is starting without her and that her date is probably waiting. Dr Harvey says that maybe they should get going then he confusingly asks where are they and Kat giggles.

The Angel[]

As a depressed and lonely Casper sulks in his room he tosses, his baseball into the air but it disappears on the third try. He looks up from the floorboards and sees a light. As it shine's down in front of him it forms into the beautiful Amelia Harvey, Kat's deceased mother who is wearing a red dress floating like an angel revealing that she has became an angel instead of a ghost. Amelia tells Casper that it was very noble (and generous) of him to sacrifice his chance at life for Kat and she knows she won't forget it. Kat needs her father and Amelia knows his father won't forget it either which makes Casper surprised as he didn't know she knew his father. Amelia tells Casper that he fulfilled his father's greatest dream and she knows he is very proud of him, and for what he's done she's giving Casper his dream in return: A chance to be alive again but just for the Halloween party as she point's out as "sort of a Cinderella deal" When Casper asks if he had gotten until midnight she answer's "ten" Casper pointed out that Cinderella had until midnight. Amelia tells him Cinderella wasn't "twelve years old". She then blow's stardust on Casper which turns him human.

The Party[]

The now human Casper goes downstairs to join the party as he finds Kat who appears to be the only one without a date; he offers her his hand, and the two go on to the foyer to join the other kids . He begins to dance with Kat. As he hovers them over the ground Kat becomes shocked until he reveals himself as who he is and Kat asks "Casper?" the two embrace and go back to the ground as all the other kids watch. Casper and Kat slowly do a romantic dance and soon it hits the stroke of ten. Just as Casper kisses Kat he turns back into a ghost which freaks out all the other kids who are gasping. He turns around, giggles and says "boo" erupting into a screaming frenzy and causing them to run wildly out of the mansion. Kat wryly comments "not bad for my first party," Casper replies "it could have been better," but Dr Harvey tells them that it isn't over yet and signals the Ghostly Trio who begin playing rock music. The disembodied voice of Little Richard sings the theme to "Casper the Friendly Ghost" as Casper, Kat and her father dance together.


Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Casper is based on the Harvey Comics and cartoon character Casper The Friendly Ghost.
  • In the film, McFadden is revealed to be Casper's last name.
  • The machine that brings ghosts back to life is obviously named for Lazarus, a man in the New Testament whom Jesus brought back to life. Furthermore, the button that activates the Lazarus is hidden inside a false copy of Frankenstein, which was about a scientist attempting to bring the dead back to life
  • When Casper is seen flipping through channels, one channel shows a cartoon woman shouted "g-g-ghost!" This was taken from the Casper cartoon "Once Upon A Rhyme."
  • The international theatrical distributor of Casper, United International Pictures, is a joint venture of Universal and Paramount Pictures, which distributed the original Casper theatrical short cartoons.
  • Casper in human form is played by Devon Sawa.
  • Casper is the very first digitally, created character to be in the lead role of a film.
  • Many believe that the film was made based on a true story in which Casper died. There are many conspiracies and facts about it, however its not proven true.
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