casper

Casper is a 1995 live-action feature film based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons and comic strips. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery.
Synopsis

Carrigan Crittenden (Cathy Moriarty), a selfish and cruel woman, is furious to learn from her father's lawyer Mr. Rugg (Ben Stein) that she has only inherited an old house, Whipstaff Manor, in her father's will. Infuriated, she tosses the will and deed to Whipstaff into a fireplace but it is rescued by her attorney and close associate Dibs (Eric Idle). Dibs discovers one of the will's pages has an inscription on it describing treasure hidden in the manor. Carrigan and Dibs visit the old manor, but find it is haunted by four ghosts, Casper (voice of Malachi Pearson), a friendly but lonely young ghost and his three obnoxious uncles, the Ghostly Trio: Stretch (voice of Joe Nipote), Stinky (voice of Joe Alaskey) & Fatso (voice of Brad Garrett). The two try to remove the ghosts through various ways, but with little success (even includes a cameo of Ray Stantz from the Ghostbusters).

Casper, who longs for a friend, watches a news report about a therapist to the dead, Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman). His daughter, Kat (Christina Ricci), is seen on television and Casper instantly falls in love with her. Casper manages to play the news report to Carrigan who decides to contact Dr. Harvey.

Dr. Harvey and Kat travel to Friendship, Maine where the manor is located. Kat and her father have been travelling around the country for years, Dr. Harvey in search for his deceased wife Amelia as a ghost. Carrigan and Dibs meet them at the manor, Carrigan asking Dr. Harvey to remove the ghosts as quickly as possible. However, things are complicated when Kat and her father meet the ghosts face-to-face; Casper attempts to befriend them while the Ghostly Trio cause mayhem for Dr. Harvey, causing a fight to break out.

The next day, Casper and Kat become friends properly. Kat goes to her high school for her first day, meeting Vic DePhillippi and his pompous girlfriend Amber Whitmire, one of the self-proclaimed coolest girls in the school, and the most boring in her class. When Kat reveals to her new classmates that she lives in Whipstaff, her classmates, who have all heard of it, decide to have their upcoming Halloween dance there. Back at the manor, Dr. Harvey reveals his goals to the Ghostly Trio who take a liking to him.

Kat finds Casper's old bedroom in the attic and Casper remembers his past life in Belle Époque, including how he died from a fatal illness. His father attempted to revive him by building a machine called Lazarus. Casper remembers its location and takes Kat to it via a secret passage leading to an underground laboratory. Carrigan and Dibs follow, learning that a special formula, which only works on one person, powers the machine. They steal it and realize they could use it to rob banks, the process involving them dying, stealing the money as ghosts and then returning to life using Lazarus. The two try to kill each other but it ends with Carrigan falling down a cliff and returning as a ghost. Carrigan steals the treasure chest from the manor's vault and orders Dibs to revive her, but he refuses and she throws him out of the window. Casper and Kat trick Carrigan into claiming she has no unfinished business, causing her to pass onto the afterlife against her will. With Carrigan and Dibs now gone, Casper reveals that his treasure wouldn't have been valuable to Carrigan anyway, because it turns out to be a baseball autographed by Casper's favorite Brooklyn Dodgers player, Duke Snyder.

Just as Casper is about to use the machine to revive himself, Dr. Harvey shows up as a ghost, having died during a "happy hour" with the Ghostly Trio. Realizing that Kat needs her father alive, Casper uses the Lazarus machine to revive him, giving up his own chance of returning to life. The Halloween party begins and Kat ends up being the only person without a partner. A boy (played by Devon Sawa) appears before her and they dance. He reveals himself to be Casper, having been visited by the angel of Amelia Harvey and revived temporarily as a reward for saving her husband's life. Casper and Kat kiss just as Casper turns back into a ghost at the final stroke of 10, scaring all the Halloween guests away. However, he doesn't mind, and neither does Kat. The Ghostly Trio then start playing a rock and roll version of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Kat, Casper and Dr. Harvey dance around the hall.