Casper

Lonely guy he may be, but the incorporeal, 'living-impaired' kid of the title occupies a haunted manor like Xanadu, remodelled by Gaudi in expansive mood. The set design, however, merely disguises what is in fact an intimate and likeable picture. As a part-animated live-action movie, it harks back to less frenetic kids' fare from the '60s like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, rather than, say, the 'toon-laden Roger Rabbit. In fact, despite the sophistication of the computer-generated special effects, Casper and the house's three ghostly stooges are the only non-'fleshies'; for the rest, the priest's neck twists Death Becomes Her-style, there's some gentle fun with objects (coffee poured horizontally), and whirlwinds released by screams. The plot's perfunctory: Casper's a lonely channel-hopper who falls for the daughter (Ricci) of ghost therapist Dr Harvey (a winning, soft-centred Pullman), who's employed to exorcise the house - which contains treasure - by scheming Carrigan (Moriarty) and her dozy helpmate Dibs (Idle, playing his usual annoying English twit).