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Casper(1995)
Universal Pictures May 26, 1995 | Wide
An afterlife therapist and his daughter meet a friendly young ghost when they move into a crumbling mansion in order to rid the premises of wicked spirits.
Releases
Original Release | May 26, 1995
30th Anniversary | Oct 3, 2025
Box Office
All Releases (2)
$100,544,179
$187,600,000
$288,144,179
$100,544,179
$100,544,179
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: DTS,DTS-Stereo,Dolby Atmos
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Showtimes
Your Location or
(U.S. Only)
Summaries
Plot Summary
- In Friendship, Maine, Whipstaff Manor has been inherited by a neurotic and spoiled woman named Carrigan Crittenden as explained to her and her attorney Paul "Dibs" Plutzker by her father's lawyer Rugg. An invisible ink inscription in the will reveals that there is a treasure hidden somewhere in the manor, which inspires Carrigan and Dibs to investigate. They are greeted by a friendly but lonely ghost named Casper, but their resulting panics summons Casper's three loud and obnoxious uncles: Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso. Carrigan and Dibs hire a series of professionals - including Father Guido Sarducci and Ghostbuster Raymond Stantz - in an attempt to rid themselves of the ghosts, but to no avail.They finally hire a therapist, James Harvey, who can communicate with ghosts, helping them to move on to the next world by helping them to resolve their unfinished business keeping them on Earth. Harvey travels around the country with his teenage daughter, Kat, in an attempt to find the spirit of his deceased wife Amelia. Harvey and Kat move into Whipstaff and stay for the night. A love-struck Casper attempts to befriend Kat and Harvey but is unsuccessful cause of the return of his uncles, who proceed to torment Harvey until they are subdued with a vacuum cleaner.The next morning, Casper finally befriends Kat and Harvey, by fixing them breakfast. At Kat's new junior high school, her classmates vote to have their upcoming Halloween dance at Whipstaff Manor because of its exceptionally creepy reputation. Later, Kat's classmate, Vic, asks her out to the Halloween dance by order of his friend, Amber. This incident rouses Casper's jealousy and inspires him to spend more time with Kat and strengthen their bond. Meanwhile, Harvey speaks with Casper's uncles, who admit that they are amused by Harvey's existence.After learning that Casper has no memories of his life, Kat finds his old toys in the attic and sets them up to remind him. When his memories return, he gives Kat his mother's dress for the Halloween dance. He discovers his old sled, causing memories of his death from a fatal illness he received as the result of staying out too late in the cold to play with his brand-new sled. Kat and Casper find a newspaper clipping revealing that Casper's father had created a machine that can bring the dead back to life - although he was sent to an insane asylum before it could be completed - and they set out to find the machine and try to get it to work. Their search leads them to an underground laboratory, where they prepare to bring Casper back to life.Meanwhile, Carrigan and Dibs, in their search for the treasure, come across a vault in the same area as the laboratory. They steal the potion needed for the machine so that one of them can die, enter the locked vault and be resurrected. Carrigan ends up falling off a cliff and returns in ghost form and steals the treasure from the vault. Carrigan orders Dibs to revive her, but he, tired of her constant mistreatment of him, refuses and she throws him out a window. Casper and Kat then trick Carrigan into claiming that she has no unfinished business, which causes her to pass onto the afterlife against her will. Casper reveals that the treasure is a baseball autographed by Casper's favorite Brooklyn Dodgers player, Duke Snider. At that moment, Harvey crashes into the lab, having died accidentally after unexpectedly falling into an open street construction trench during a drinking binge with Casper's uncles.After being reminded of who he is, Casper sacrifices his "only" opportunity to return to life for the sake of Kat's father, and they use the "Lazarus machine" to resurrect Harvey, exhausting the potion (and Casper's chance to become human again). Meanwhile, the guests arrive at the mansion and have set up the party. Amber and Vic prepare their prank, but the Ghostly Trio intervenes and drives them away before they can succeed. Kat appears and proceeds to play hostess.Casper, who has gone to his room to mourn his lost chance, is visited by Kat's mother in the form of an angel. She thanks him for his sacrifice and returns him to temporary human form, allowing him to dance with Kat. While they dance, Amelia appears to James. Her message to him: he must not keep trying to contact her, since she has no unfinished business after living such a good life with him and Kat. At the party, the human Casper asks Kat for a slow dance, during which he levitates them off the floor. At the stroke of ten (and in the middle of a kiss with Kat), Casper returns to his ghost form, scaring everyone else out of the mansion. Kat, Casper, and Harvey decide to continue the party, and dance to the singing of Casper's uncles.
Storyline
- Furious that her late father only willed her his gloomy-looking mansion rather than his millions, Carrigan Crittenden is ready to burn it to the ground when she discovers a map to a treasure hidden in it. But when she enters it to seek her claim, she is frightened away by a wicked wave of ghosts. Determined to get her hands on this hidden fortune, she hires afterlife therapist Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman) to exorcise the ghosts from the mansion. James and his daughter, Kat, move in, and soon Kat meets Casper, the ghost of a young boy who's "the friendliest ghost you know". But not so friendly are Casper's uncles Stretch, Fatso, and Stinkie, who are determined to drive all "fleshies" away. Ultimately, it is up to James and Kat to help the ghosts cross over to the other side. — Joshua Davis