Casper Meets Wendy


Casper Meets Wendy is a 1998 direct-to-video fantasy family comedy film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon characters Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch. The film is a sequel to 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 10 years old when the film was released on September 22, 1998. It then aired on October 27, 1998, four days before Halloween, on Fox Family.

Plot

A mysterious "spaceship" floats over a baseball game eventually revealing Stretch, Stinkie, and Fatso, The Ghostly Trio, who cause panic in the ballpark. Their nephew Casper, attempts to settle the terrified crowd, but they are just as scared of him as they are of his uncles. The park empties, and after watching their effect with satisfaction, Casper's uncles plan a vacation.
Meanwhile, a malevolent warlock named Desmond Spellman who believes himself the greatest warlock to have existed, gets an unwelcome message by the Oracle in the Mirror who tells him that in the future, a child Wendy the Good Little Witch will surpass him in being the greatest witch ever. To avoid this, Desmond plans to get rid of her once and for all with the advised "Mystic Abyss", a dimensional rift that can destroy living beings upon entering. He then creates a pair of spies: Jules and Vincent, and assigns them to bring Wendy to him where she is living in the country with her three aunts: Gert, Gabby, and Fanny.
Jules and Vincent arrive to take Wendy, who narrowly escapes with her aunts. To keep Wendy safe from Desmond, her aunts hide and vacation at a resort hotel which happens to be the same place in which Casper and his uncles are vacationing.
Casper and Wendy meet in a barn and, due to their amiable personalities and having been bossed around by their respective guardians, they become great friends. Unfortunately, her aunts and his uncles do not get along because ghosts and witches are natural enemies. However, the pair are certain their guardians would get along if they only got to know each other. In order to do that, they devise a plan. Casper tricks the Ghostly Trio to break the record for possession so that he can learn how to do it, and they possess three men at the party. Wendy convinces her aunts to go to the party to meet men. Thanks to their plotting, they meet and soon the Trio are flirting with the three witches, who are posing as regular women.
Though everything goes well at first, with the ghosts and witches unwittingly enjoying each other's company and finding that they have a lot in common, the plan is spoiled when the possession wears off and the ghosts' real selves are revealed to Wendy's aunts, who, in turn, revealed their real selves and threaten them with magic. However, as Wendy explains to Casper, she and her aunts cannot use any high-level magic or else Desmond will be able to track them down. She begs Casper not to tell anyone about this. Unfortunately, when the Ghostly Trio suspects that Casper is protecting the witches, they interrogate and pressure Casper into blurting out that the witches cannot use their powers, prompting the Trio to terrorize Wendy and her aunts. Wendy feels she has no choice but to cast a high-level spell to cover the Trio in plaster, thus alerting Desmond's magic tracker of their location.
Distraught that Casper broke his promise, Wendy ends their friendship. Casper soon confronts his uncles and tells them that Desmond is coming after the witches and they should help. The Trio scoff at first and refuse, but Casper reminded them that at the party the Trio showed that they could get along with the witches if they put their differences aside.
Before the witches can evacuate the resort, Desmond and his spies arrive. After confronting the witches, Desmond explains the Oracle's prediction and, after trying to resist him, Desmond summons the Mystic Abyss and casts Wendy into it to destroy her, with Casper diving inside in an attempt to rescue her. Her aunts try to fight Desmond but are not powerful enough. Before Desmond can turn the witches into fertilizer, a giant three-eyed monster pops up and frightens the evil warlock, turning his attention from the witches to it. With that distraction and with Wendy's broom pushing him, he plummets into the Abyss himself, defeated. The monster turns out to be the Ghostly Trio, who have a change of heart and decides to help after they combine their powers to defeat Desmond. While they hold the door to the Abyss open, Wendy's aunts pull her and Casper out.
Both Casper and Wendy are weak and unconscious; but with encouragement and comfort from their guardians, Casper is restored by his uncles and Wendy is treated by her aunts. After a touching reunion between the witches and an awkward one between the ghosts, the witches thank the Trio for helping them. The Oracle then proclaims that Wendy is the greatest witch because she did something no other witch ever could; she befriended a ghost. Later, Casper, his uncles, Wendy, and her aunts, all bid each other goodbye. Casper and Wendy assure each other they will meet again soon. Before flying back home with her aunts, Wendy gives Casper a goodbye kiss and his face blushes.

Cast

Main

Live-Action

Casper Meets Wendy has generally received mostly negative reviews from critics, with a total of 6 reviews from critics on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 17% gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 4.05/10, which gives the film a slight improvement over its predecessor, but still low compare to the 1995 theatrical film.

Soundtrack alteration

In the original airing and VHS release of the film, the Casper theme can be heard in the opening sequence performed by Shana Halligan. In the subsequent DVD releases the lyric is muted though the melody and sound effects remain intact. However, 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.