The Famous Studios Casper cartoons were a mixed bag to say the least. The first in the series 1945's "The Friendly Ghost" was an innocuous, simple story about the ghost of a dead boy who wants to befriend others but frightens every human and animal he comes into contact with until he makes friends with a little boy and girl and becomes one of their family after fighting off their mother's greedy landlord. It wasn't anything special but it was sweet, harmless fun. The next chapter however 1948's "There's Good Boo's Tonight" despite being beautifully animated, and having great music was just plain depressing and had total lack of focus and story. That one had Casper scaring every animal he came into contact with until a little fox cub that he named Ferdie, showed his love for him and they became friends. A hunter however shot Ferdie, putting Casper in mourning pain until the little fox resurrected and became a ghost. Ferdie was an adorable, lovable character, but the depressing subplot of his death was underwhelming and unsettling, making that short the weakest of the three Famous Studios cartoons. Fortunately this Casper outing released the following year was a big improvement. I always have liked this one better than the second outing and I'm sure those who have seen both will agree with me. The basic plot is essentially the same as its predecessor, however it's easier to watch and there are actually more scenes with Casper and his cute little animal friend. Casper is made class dunce at his school for not being frightening, and goes out looking for friends. He scares off a turtle, and a pelican eating a fish as well as a flock of ducks, and nearly gives up hope until while crying and he hatches an egg of a newborn baby duck, who like Ferdie Fox in the previous outing, loves him and isn't afraid of him. Casper then names the duck Dudley and soon teaches him how to swim and fly, however the same hunter who killed Ferdie is on the hunt again, and he eventually shoots Dudley, however Casper revives him through his tears dropping on Dudley's comatose body and the little duckling returns to life with all the other ducks becoming Casper's friend in the end. I like the approach taken here in that Casper helps his cute little animal friend to grow up. In the previous short he just played with Ferdie and there weren't any real scenes of their friendship, it just involved some playing fetch and then the hunter shot and killed him. Here Casper teaches Dudley what he needs to learn to be a duck, and we get more time actually focusing on the two of them bonding. Although the climax is somewhat similar to the second outing, Dudley does survive the hunter's gunshot, leaving the cartoon on a more upbeat, cheerful note. The second outing should have told it's story and had the conclusion been the same way, but it took the dark, depressing turn instead. All in all the animation is just as well done, if not better than the previous installments, Casper has more personality here, with a deeper friendship, and even does the unusual by intentionally frightening off the hunter and his hounds this time around. In the previous outing he just asked the hunter to not shoot Ferdie whereas this time when he sees them trying to hurt Dudley he purposely frightens them off. This is a better approach, that gives the character more depth and maturity and it's what I missed from the previous installment. All in all this is definitely a better cartoon for kids. "There's Good Boo's Tonight" was more unintentionally made for adults, almost like the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" of it's day so to speak, whereas this one is more upbeat and cheerful making it the best out of the three Famous Studios Casper cartoons. Overall, very well done short, with a better and more satisfying outcome.
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