The last live action Casper movie was released in 1998 and the franchise laid dormant for quite some time but Casper would return in a 2006 TV movie that premiered on Cartoon Network and served as a pilot for a tv show. The premise is simple because Casper can’t scare anyone, he is sent to a school that is all about learning how to scare fleshies.
It is rather interesting and disheartening to see how kiddified this franchise became over the four movies. The original 95 movie was most assuredly a family movie whereas the two Saban movies were movies for I’d say for the 6 – 8 crowd but this one almost plays like a preschool movie. It’s not but it is so simplified compared to the depth we had in the original movie. Also wow, does the animation in this movie suck. It’s an early 2000’s animated CGI movie and you can see how stiff the computer animation is.
This again is another disappointment as Casper is an animated character and while obviously a direct-to-tv movie wouldn’t have the same budget as a Universal blockbuster, it is sad that a movie from the mid ‘90s the ghosts looked so much better than they do here. Also, I’m sorry to say but I think Bob Saget was a miscast. Saget was a good actor and wonderful comedian but as one half of our villainous duo, it truly didn’t sound like he was doing anything different than just speaking in his regular voice. It’s a similar complaint people have to that of Seth Rogen only ever playing himself when he’s in an animated project. I am sorry to speak ill of the dead but while Saget was a wonderful comedian, I do not think voice acting was his strong suit. I feel bad not mentioning the other half of this villainous duo who is played by Jim Belushi and he’s fine.
First Appearance
We first come across Alder and Dash in their dean’s office at the scare school at they are the headmasters of the scare school and they are plotting on how to get revenge on Kibosh. Yeah, Kibosh is back, he stuck around since Spirited Beginning and became the de facto overarching antagonist. Though, he’s not an antagonist here and he is part of why our villains want revenge as they were punished by Kibosh by being put in charge of the Scare School. It’s simplistic and this film is for the littlest of little kids.
Personalities
The duo is all about being mean and scary and having things look as awful as possible. This is a contrast from their childhood as we learn when Casper meets their aunt and uncle in the Valley of Shadows that as kids, Alder and Dash were much like Casper in that they were sweet and friendly. Kibosh viewed their aunt and uncle treating them like this as a threat to monster kind and banished them to the aforementioned valley.
And with the being a duo, you have a case of a dumb one being Alder and a smart and more serious one being Dash. That’s typically how villainous duos tend to go in children’s media
Grand Desire
It’s simple and a bit basic as they wish to overthrow Kibosh as they wish to overtake both the underworld and human world. Yeah okay, this again is just kinda basic for kids media. It’s just another idea of wanting absolute power as we have characters that aren’t happy with the cards they’ve been dealt. Which totally fair and it does make sense for how an employee wanted to blame their boss especially if we look back on their backstory of how Kibosh broke up their family yet that doesn’t seem to be a real motivator for Alder and Dash and it is instead just the idea of power. If them wanting revenge for what Kibosh did to their aunt and uncle (the movie calls them Ancle but I’m not going to), you could most have a sympathetic angle to understand why Alder and Dash are angry at Kibosh. This element is barely touched upon when it could’ve helped so much to explain their hatred.
Furthering this point, it seems as though these two are meant to be a reflection of who Casper could become if he gave into his hatred as at the beginning of the movie, we see Kibosh sending Casper to the Scare School and in a moment that feels uncharacteristic, the Ghostly Trio break down at losing their nephew. This feels as though it goes against what we know of the trio and how in every other adaption, they abused Casper. Again, I understand that this is for little kids but having seen various other adaptions, I find this sequence hard to stomach.
One final note that bugs me returning to Kibosh, the end of the movie reveals he had human friends at Casper’s age (ghosts age in this series?) and that he was only being hard on Casper because Casper needs to grow up.
I’m sorry no, you can’t take a character that for the most part of this franchise has been an antagonist and slap that on. If anything, Kibosh once again should’ve been an antagonist considering how he willingly breaks up families.
Lackey
Thatch
Okay so this is just a vampire bully who’s a kiss up to the headmasters and they “hire” him to spy on Casper just as a means to get him to leave them alone. He just exists and there is nothing else to it.
Most Evil Deed
After Casper willingly sends himself to the Valley of Shadows which actually turns out to be a place closer to what humans would consider paradise, his two closest friends, a mummy and zombie send for the Trio. Once the Trio arrives at the school, they are turned to stone with a petrifaction potion, they later use on Kibosh and then and over to their students on humans.
It shows how much are driven by power and in a sense jealously over not being at top and I believe they say they’ve been at the school for over a thousand years so I get it but this again is an element that feels underbaked.
Defeat
Casper along with all the other banished monsters return from the Valley of the Shadows, they arrive in the human world and the brothers are stopped when they see their aunt and uncle who they remember the love they have for their family and their aunt and uncle admonish them and that is all it takes for them to undo everything they’ve done. Sure, whatever.
Are Alder and Dash Good Villains?
Like the whole of this movie, they’re just boring and boring is almost worse than bad. Boring means there is nothing memorable about them. They exist and that is all there is to them.
Welp, this closes out our look at the Casper villains and sorry to be going out on such a whimper.
I do have one more non Villain Casper blog coming on Halloween day as I look at the Halloween episode fo the 90’s Casper series.
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