The first Broad Strokes Direct to Video Prequel to Casper that was released on September 9, 1997. The film and its follow-up sequel Casper Meets Wendy were produced by Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox.
Casper, having just become a ghost, gets kicked off the train to Ghost Central and ends up in Deedstown. He befriends a young boy named Chris Carson, who introduces him to the Ghostly Trio; three ghosts that are hiding for Kibosh. They agree to train Casper to prove themselves to Kibosh. When Kibosh realizes Casper didn't arrive at Ghost Central, he sends his assistant Snivel to find him. In a B-plot, the house the ghosts reside in is scheduled for demolition by none other than Chris' dad Tim.
This 1997 film provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Kibosh regularly does this when it comes to Casper's name. By the end, Kibosh corrects Snivel for saying Casper's name wrong.
- Afterlife Express: All new ghosts are brought to Kibosh' school by a train. The movie starts with Casper on said train, but he gets kicked off.
- All-Ghouls School: Kibosh runs one for ghosts. All new ghosts are supposed to go there first, but Casper never made it to the school since he gets kicked off the train.
- Alternate Continuity: Despite visually mimicking the 1995 film and the title potentially implying that it's a prequel, Spirited Beginning makes no direct references to the theatrical movie, and in some ways contradicts it. For instance, the 1995 film demonstrates that Casper has been a ghost for nearly a century, while this film implies he passed away just before the movie began.
- Asshole Victim: Brock and his gang. It's hard to feel sorry for Brock when Casper's antics gets him in trouble with the principal, or at the end of the movie when the Ghostly Trio hang him and his gang on the branches of a tree by their underwear.
- Also the criminal that Casper scares away when he tries to rob a convenience store.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Casper slams a globe on Brock's head, hooks a fire extinguisher on the back of his shirt, sets it off, and trips Brock onto a book cart, where he rolls out of the library and into the hall, colliding with the principal, and ending up with a month's worth of detention! And this is Casper we're talking about here.
- Big Bad: Kibosh.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Tim Carson.
- Big "NO!": Yelled by Casper after he realizes he is a ghost.
- Broad Strokes: The film is notably inconsistent with the 1995 original, despite being promoted as a prequel to the former. note
- The Bully: Brock.
- Canon Foreigner: Everyone except Casper and the Ghostly Trio.
- Continuity Nod: An early scene involves the typical slapstick humor Casper faced in reaction to his appearance in the cartoons.
- Eat the Bomb: How Casper takes out the bomb in the climax, and thus saves both Chris and Applegate Mansion. As an added bonus, the explosion causes him to temporarily swell up so he fills the entire house, which impresses Kibosh (who thinks is a new ghost technique).
- Elvis Lives: Casper is able to five the trio the slip when he claims he sees Elvis's ghost. Once he escapes, Fatso reminds them Elvis is still alive.
- Gallows Humor: Chris wanted to hang out with the Ghostly Trio, but Stretch thinks not - with a noose on him.Stretch: Hang? You're a little late for that event, kid.
- Happily Adopted: The Ghostly Trio are clearly shown in this movie not to be Casper's real uncles; they adopt him as their nephew so he can stay with them instead of having to go with Kibosh after Casper stood up for them to Kibosh.
- Haunted House: Applegate Mansion, where the Ghostly Trio are hiding from Kibosh.
- Human-Focused Adaptation: Much more so than in the 1995 original, the human characters of Tim Carson and (especially) his son Chris are the main protagonists here. Even though the ghosts do have story arcs of their own, they are completely overshadowed by the typical father-son drama where Chris tries to get his father's attention, but Tim is too caught up in his work to really think about his son. Especially where his desires to tear down an old mansion becomes the film's main plot point as the story progressed.
- Lack of Empathy: Brock and most of his gang, when they find out the morning after they locked Chris in the Applegate Mansion that a bomb was planted.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the 1995 original.
- Look, a Distraction!: Casper is able to temporarily distract the Ghostly Trio by pointing and shouting, "Look! It's Elvis' ghost!" They immediately whip out some autograph books before they realize they've been had, because as they put it, everybody knows that Elvis is still alive.
- Mad Bomber: Bill Case, the professional bomber that Tim eventually hires to blow up Applegate Mansion, is very eager to finish the job. He won't even listen when Tim tries to call off the bombing when he learns Chris is locked in the house, and when Sheila manages to knock him out of the tree he's hiding in, giving Tim the chance to toss the detonator remote, he gleefully informs them that it makes no difference since there's a timer on the bomb itself as well.
- Mayor Pain: The mayor of Deedstown is the one who really wants to see Applegate Mansion destroyed to make room for a mall, and he threatens to dismiss Tim if he fails to destroy it. He instantly changes his mind about the mansion in the end.
- Missing Mom: Chris' mother is nowhere to be seen in the movie and she is mentioned only once.
- Never Trust a Title: Though the plot involves an Origin Story for Casper, it's not his origin for the 1995 film as the title may or may not be trying to suggest.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: When Sheila Fistergraff shows up at Chris' house and sees Casper, the ghost quickly freezes and pretents to be a work of art.
- Papa Wolf: When Tim finds out his son is in the Applegate Mansion that was about to be detonated, he immediately rushes to the mansion to stop Bill from blowing it up.
- Prequel: To the 1995 movie, though in name only.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: BULL... DOZ... ER!
- Ramming Always Works: To try and save Applegate Mansion, Sheila rams the tree Bill Case is hiding in with her car, causing him to fall out and allowing Tim to take the bomb's remote and throw it out of sight.
- The Runaway: Chris runs away from home when he thinks Casper betrayed him and chickened out of getting introduced to Tim (he actually got caught by the Ghostly Trio), leading to Tim not believing Chris that Casper is real. He doesn't get far since he runs into Brock and his gang, who lock him up in Applegate Mansion for getting them into trouble with the principal.
- Running Gag: Kibosh can't seem to get Casper's name right until the very end of the film, when he corrects Snivel (who, oddly, got Casper's name RIGHT up to that point).
- The Sociopath: Brock and his gang for obvious reasons.
- Ungrateful Bastard: When Applegate Mansion is about to be torn down, the Ghostly Trio start tormenting not only the crew that was trying to tear it down, but also the protestors who were trying to stop it and thus keep the Trio's home intact.
- Waving Signs Around: The scheduled demolition of Applegate Mansion leads to quite some protests from the citizens of Deedstown, since the house is a historical landmark.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sheila Fistergraff has a strong dedication of preserving historical landmarks with protesters, even if the state of Applegate Mansion is in disrepair. She doesn’t even consider raising a charity to restore the mansion to it’s former glory.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Chris' father, Tim Carson, is quite a workaholic. He misses out on the open house at Chris's school and a parent-teacher conference. And judging by the reactions of both Chris' and his teacher Sheila Fistergraff, this isn't the first time he didn't show.
