Casper: A Spirited Beginning

Casper: A Spirited Beginning
Casper, his uncles and the evil Kibosh
Directed by	Sean McNamara
Produced by	Mike Elliott Rob Kerchner Jeffrey A. Montgomery Lance H. Robbins Haim Saban Mike Upton
Written by	Jymn Magon Thomas Hart Thomas McCluskey(story) Rob Kerchner(story)
Starring	Jeremy Foley Shannon Chandler Steve Guttenberg Lori Loughlin Rodney Dangerfield Michael McKean
Distributed by	20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release date(s)	September 9, 1997
Running time	90 min.
Language	English

Casper: A Spirited Beginning is a direct-to-video spin-off of the 1995 film Casper, released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in 1997. Though it is billed as a prequel to Casper, showing how Casper became a ghost, it does not appear to be set in the same continuity as the previous film.

[edit] Inconsistencies

Casper: A Sprited Beginning has a number of plot holes and inconsistances with the prior film Casper.

In Casper, Casper died some time in the early 20th century. In Casper: A Spirited Beginning, Casper becomes a ghost in modern times.
In Casper, Casper and the Ghostly Trio haunted Casper's family home of Whipstaff Manor, a Gothic mansion located on a cliff overlooking the ocean. In A Spirited Beginning, the Ghostly Trio haunt Applegate Manor, a more modern house located in the middle of a suburban town, and, at the end of the film, Casper decides to join them.
In A Spirited Beginning, ghosts have to go through training before becoming ghosts. In Casper, two characters died and became ghosts immediately.
In Casper, Casper appears lonely, despite the fact he forges a friendship with a young boy in this film, which is supposed to be a prequel.
In A Spirited Beginning, the Ghostly Trio are blue and King Kibosh is green while Casper and Snivel are possibly the only white ghost who enter the real world. In Casper, all ghosts are white and transparent like Casper in this film.

The evil ghost king Kibosh (voice by James Earl Jones) and his cowardly assistant Snivel (voice by Pauly Shore) are new characters created for this movie. They do not appear in Casper Meets Wendy, but they appear (with different voice actors) in the CGI sequel Casper's Haunted Christmas, which also includes the appearance of Casper's cousin Spooky and his girlfriend Poil from the animated series.
The only actors to appear in both Casper and this movie are Rodney Dangerfield, Jess Harnell and Ben Stein. None of them portray the same character as in the first film.
Brendon Ryan Barrett, who plays Chris Carson, in this film, would later voice Casper in Casper's Haunted Christmas.