An unfortunate waste of a potentially good opportunity: a pilferation of the Harvey Comics staple about a friendly ghost looking for friends, and the loner teen and her father who take up residence in the mansion haunted by Casper and other apparitions of the boo-and-cackle variety. As Roger Ebert pointed out at the time, it was completely wrong-headed of the screenwriters to delve into the history of Casper (revealed to be the ghost of a dead child!), which renders some of the wild, gross-out slapstick completely inappropriate. Sloppily-directed in the "Beetlejuice" vein by Brad Silberling, who is no Tim Burton. The production is slick and expensive, but the hammy material is broad and derivative, defeating leads Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci as well as cameo-players Dan Aykroyd and Rodney Dangerfield, among others. Under 10-year-olds probably won't notice. *1/2 from ****