''Casper's Haunted Christmas'' is a 2000 animated Christmas

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and

Mainframe Entertainment Mainframe Studios is a Canadian animation studio owned by Wow Unlimited Media and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1993 as Mainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and John Gr ...

, based on the character

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is a fictional character who serves as the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a translucent ghost who is pleasant and personable, but often criticized by his thr ...

, and was released in the United States by

Universal Studios Home Video Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

on October 31, 2000. Unlike either its theatrical or two direct-to-video predecessors, which combined live-action and CGI, the film was fully made in computer animation. It stars Brendon Ryan Barrett (who previously starred in '' Casper: A Spirited Beginning'' as Casper's best friend, Chris Carson) as the voice of the title character.

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country and gospel music singer and songwriter, as well as a film and television actor. Active since 1979, he has recorded over 20 studio albums and ...

provided original music.

Plot

After a scaring spree at a drive-in theater, the Ghostly Trio's are confronted by Casper who is then confronted by Officer Snivel who informs him that his scare quota is down. The Trio take Snivel's whistle and blow it which summons Kibosh, the perfidious King of Ghosts. Kibosh explains Casper must ''intentionally'' scare one person a year; the cowardice from humans just seeing Casper doesn't count. He threatens to send them to a void called The Dark if Casper fails to scare someone by December 25. To make sure Casper scares someone, he confiscates the Trio's haunting licenses and flings them to the Christmas-influenced town Kriss, Massachusetts, on account of the Trio's hatred of the holiday, where they meet the Jollimore Family. When Casper's good behavior starts to act up, which includes befriending the daughter of the family, Holly, the Ghostly Trio call in Casper's lookalike cousin Spooky, who brings along his girlfriend Poil, to do the job disguised as Casper in the hope of fooling Kibosh. With Casper and Spooky unlikely to scare someone after a series of failed attempts the Trio decide to plot a scaring spree stealing every Christmas present in Kriss, in a reference to ''

How the Grinch Stole Christmas ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a children's Christmas book by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a green cranky, solitary creature who attempts to thwart the pu ...

'', and taking them to the Jollimores' house where they plan to lure the townspeople then set off scary booby traps to go out with a bang before being banished to the Dark. Casper along with Spooky and Poil scare the Trio using a fake Kibosh made from the Jollimores' giant Santa. Casper then summons the real Kibosh using Snivel's whistle to inform him he scared the Trio, fulfilling his ghostly obligation, but Snivel informs Kibosh of the booby traps, violating the no scaring order on the Trio. To prevent Kibosh from banishing them to the Dark, the Trio claim the traps are a Christmas gift for Kibosh; since he enjoys watching torture, the trio spring them. After the act, Kibosh accepts the Trio's claim and returns their haunting licenses before leaving with Snivel. The film ends with the remaining ghosts celebrating Christmas with the Jollimore family.

Cast

Crew

* Ian Boothby - co-writer * Roger Fredericks - co-writer * Kris Zimmerman - voice director * Byron Vaughns - producer * Owen Hurley - director

Marketing

In the United States

Baskin Robbins Baskin-Robbins, Inc. is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake specialty shops owned by Inspire Brands. Baskin-Robbins was formed in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California.

, whose logo is featured on an ice cream store in the film, made a tie-in promotion with the VHS release of ''Casper's Haunted Christmas'', by inventing a Casper-themed ice cream flavor that was available throughout December. The chain also inserted a coupon good for free ice cream sundaes inside every video.

Music

A soundtrack featuring original

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

-styled covers of classic

christmas songs Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of carols, may employ lyrics about the nativity of J ...

that also feature in the film, such as

Winter Wonderland "Winter Wonderland" is a song written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith. Due to its seasonal theme, it is often regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its original recording by Richard Himb ...

Deck the Halls "Deck the Halls" is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, " Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. ...

, and

Jingle Bell Rock "Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas music, Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then, and is generally considered Helms' list of sign ...

, performed by country artists

Ricky Van Shelton Ricky Van Shelton (born January 12, 1952) is an American retired country music singer. Active between 1986 and 2006, he charted more than 20 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts. This figure includes 10 Number One hits: "Somebod ...

and

, among other pre-existing Christmas country covers, was made to accompany the film's release, under

Koch Records MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch"), formerly known as Koch Records and Entertainment One (eOne) Music/Records, is an American independent record label and music management company based in New York City. It was formed in 1987 as a music div ...

. Additionally, the original Casper the Friendly Ghost theme can be heard in the opening sequence of the film performed by Travis,https://youtube/PlEY9geyXWg and is also included in the soundtrack.

References

External links

* {{Harvey Comics films 2000 children's films 2000 computer-animated films 2000 direct-to-video films 2000s ghost films Canadian direct-to-video films American direct-to-video films 2000s English-language films Universal Pictures direct-to-video animated films Canadian animated feature films 2000s children's animated films Direct-to-video fantasy films Casper the Friendly Ghost films Casper the Friendly Ghost 2000s American animated films Mainframe Studios films Films set in Massachusetts Universal Pictures direct-to-video films American Christmas films American children's animated fantasy films American comedy horror films Canadian Christmas films American ghost films Canadian ghost films Films based on American comics Films based on Harvey Comics Canadian children's fantasy films 2000s children's fantasy films Canadian comedy horror films Animated Christmas films English-language Canadian films Films directed by Owen Hurley 2000s Canadian animated films Canadian animated comedy films English-language fantasy films