Casper the Friendly Ghost is given the Tim Burton treatment in this computer-animated cartoon with a claymation look. The powers of cuteness and niceness triumph over the old-style order in which ghosts, vampires, mummies and so forth are sent to 'scare school' in order to learn how to terrify 'fleshies'.

It is interesting that in the two decades since Burton's askew vision of horror, as shown most clearly in BEETLEJUICE, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, and the animated features THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE Christmas and THE CORPSE BRIDE, that view has become mainstream to the extent that Casper the Friendly Ghost can be given the same treatment. However, the result here is viewer-friendly kiddie farce, eked out not with black humor but with puns and 'adults make no sense' jokes. The result is sporadically amusing, and children are likely to be entertained by it. but adults can give it a miss.

The second best follow-up to 'Casper', so... yeah.

'Casper's Scare School' arguably has the best plot of the four prequels/sequels, but remains hampered by the very poor animation - which, even for 2006, looks awful. I did recognise a few of the voices, including Kevin McDonald (aka Pleakley) and John DiMaggio (aka Bender). All in all, though, it's another pointless production - and, thankfully, the last... at time of review, at least.

If the other Casper videos weren't such a burden to my eyes, I'd have given them better reviews. Nothing beats the originals as well as the 1995 film. Here, the Casper series is given new light and the humor is actually well-tailored to balance that of the first film and little bit of the others. Not bad, and it's good to see now and then, even if the continuity still is off base but... oh well, that's Hollywood. On another note though, the animation is quite unique and calls for a different kind of review. I think it's a little creepy, but then again what's not to like about from the animation crew who worked on the other Tim Burton films? Not bad at all.