I rented this for my four-year-old son from our local public library. As the third Casper film, and a direct-to-video release (the only advertising I remember was on cereal boxes), I wasn't expecting much from this little venture, but I was delightfully surprised. I actually sat and watched the whole thing, and the climax is quite suspenseful. A great cast, some witty writing, and fine performances by George Hamilton as the villainous arch-warlock Desmond Spellman (am I the only one who thinks this is a dig at Aaron Spelling?), Richard Moll, Vincent Schiavelliand the three adult witches, Shelly Duval, Teri Garr and Cathy Moriarty. The CGI ghosts are well done.
But the biggest surprise of all is Hilary Duff's sparkling performance as Wendy. Based on all the ditzy teen idol crap she did later-- rolling her eyes and huffing every thirty seconds as "Lizzy McGuire" and singing those plastic pop tunes--I expected her to just float around on her broom and look cute. But this is the best acting I've ever seen her do. I can hardly believe it's the same person. She's a delightful little bundle of energy, delivers her lines intelligently, and really works her little duff off (sorry, couldn't resist that). It's a shame her career took such an airhead direction. This video shows she was capable of better things, but she's already being forgotten.
One caution: The ending, with the swirling "Mystic Abyss", when it seems like Wendy might actually be a gonner, as well as the "possession" scenes might be a little too much for some preschoolers.
