Casper Soundtrack CD

Producers: James Horner, Shawn Murphy, David Foster, Richie Zito, Little Richard.
Engineers: Shawn Murphy, Dave Reitzas.
Principally recorded at Todd AO, Los Angeles, California and Chartmaker, Malibu, California.
Original score by James Horner.
Not content with ripping off himself, James Horner borrows wholesale from Danny Elfman for 1995's Casper, a goofy comedic fantasy score that eschews thrills and chills in favor of the composer's usual diabetes-inducing schmaltz. Granted, Casper is supposed to be cute and cuddly -- he's the Friendly Ghost, after all -- but Horner never musters even a hint of action or suspense, instead favoring a calculated whimsy that evokes Elfman's scores for Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, albeit with none of the otherworldly beauty and serious weirdness that make Elfman's efforts so compelling. MCA's soundtrack also includes Little Richard's "Casper the Friendly Ghost" -- or, as it should be titled, "How the Mighty Have Fallen." ~ Jason Ankeny
The soundtrack to the children-oriented fantasy/comedy Casper consists of the incidental music, which is rather bland and unenventful; it works well in the context of the film, but it is uncompelling when isolated from the visuals. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine