Casper
Universal Pictures | Release Date: May 26, 1995 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
10
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesCaryn James
Casper is not the kind of smartly written movie that works on children's and adult levels at once. But with its lively pace, smashing visual tricks and one of the cutest heroes on screen, it is an engaging fantasy for very small children. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Let's face it, it's about a dead boy who falls in love with a real live girl. The high-tech animation is completely persuasive; nothing else is. Read full review
60
EmpireJane Howdle
It's aimed squarely at the tinies, but there is charm enough here to make it bearable for adults too. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonStaff (Not Credited)
An intimate and likeable picture. As a part-animated live-action movie, it harks back to less frenetic kids' fare from the '60s like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, rather than, say, the 'toon-laden Roger Rabbit. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
What’s depressing about the current Hollywood mania to literalize old cartoon series isn’t that a show like Casper is such bad source material. It’s that the movie version is like the cartoon without innocence — a fairy tale with the soul of a rerun. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
Another demonstration of the hazards involved turning a six-minute animated short into a big budget movie, Casper will doubtless spur nostalgic recognition among grown-ups but skews so heavily toward children that it offers little to divert anyone over the age of 8. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
Although most of the stars of this movie are real, live actors, Casper is mostly just a big cartoon in which those live actors must interact with some devilishly clever spectral animation. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJay Carr
The techno-wizards at Industrial Light & Magic really knock themselves out here, but Casper is more serviceable than magical. [26 May 1995, p.85]
40
Austin ChronicleJoey O'Bryan
At its best, which is when it's exploiting both its eye-popping special effects and delicious production design (the interior of the haunted mansion is truly awe-inspiring), Casper proves itself to be passable, if mindless, kiddie fare. At its worst, Casper continually resorts to desperate star cameos to get a rise out of the audience, lame and phony heart-tugging to get them emotionally involved (and there is more of this nonsense than you might expect), and ridiculous, coincidental plotting to make sure this thing runs at least 90 minutes. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
It's not clear why Steven Spielberg's Amblin decided to make a live-action entertainment starring the least interesting and most saccharine of all 50s cartoon characters, the friendly ghost who can't help scaring people, but here's your chance to search for an answer. Read full review
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