Casper’s Scare School is a 3D computer animated TV film starring Casper the Friendly Ghost (Devon Werkheiser). It was directed by Mark Graves and concocted by four (!) scriptwriters: Kirk De Micco, Robert Mittenthal, Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers. The cast features the voices of James Belushi (Little Shop of Horrors), Dan Castelleneta (Homer and various Simpsons characters’) and veteran comedienne Phyllis Diller (Mad Monster Party?, Doctor Hackenstein,The Boneyard and The Silence of the Hams).
It was produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company, released by Classic Media and premiered on October 20, 2006. A TV series of the same name followed in 2009. There is also has a video game of the same name.
As a result of Casper being too friendly when playing with a boy named Jimmy, Kibosh: The King of the Underworld has Casper enrolled into a Scare School headed by the two-headed headmaster Alder and Dash. He befriends Ra, a mummy with unraveling issues and Mantha, a zombie girl who keeps falling apart. When Casper discovers the two-headed headmaster’s plot to use a petrification potion to turn Kibosh into stone and take over the Underworld and Deedstown, he and his new friends must stop him…
“The look of Casper’s Ghost School is often excellent, with smooth, velvety blacks and purples and grays creating an evocative, spooky backdrop. Several action scenes standout, particularly the arrival of the pirate ship to the Scare School, with a giant sea monster rising out of the ocean to attack it. All of the figures are attractively modeled, although Casper and The Ghostly Trio often look unnecessarily dark – almost sooty – for no apparent reason other than overenthusiastic shading. And quite a few of the jokes at the Scare School are funny, with some of the faculty members (Doctor Thurdegree Burns and Frankengymteacher) good for solid laughs.” Paul Mavis, DVD Talk
“Casper’s Scare School is as bland, banal, and homogenized kiddie entertainment as you can get. Though stated from an adult’s perspective, I can’t see a parent getting excited and wanting to sit down with his or her child to watch this one once, let alone the numerous times obsessive, televisionized kids are apt to do these days. Yet from a kid’s viewpoint, I would have to venture this wouldn’t be that much more appealing to them. The story is thin — but still teaches lessons about friendship and being one’s self; the jokes fall flat; and the CGI style is average, without any special flair.” DVD Verdict
“The film was one that I felt was probably great for the kids but lacked the nuances an adult audience would look for in a kid’s film that would make it enjoyable at both levels. However it did feature a vampire (and a vampire who bites his own tongue at one point, for that matter).” Taliesin Meets the Vampires
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