With his adorable big oval eyes, so typical of postwar cartoons – see also Felix the Car, Bugs Bunny, and Tom and Jerry -, young Casper is a decidedly unusual-looking ghost. His soft, childlike voice carries a hint of sadness and immediately marks him out as one of the good guys. But Casper the friendly ghost drifts around desperately seeking a pal, because the sad thing is everyone he sees runs away from him.
In this short film made in 1954 Casper decides to journey to the Moon. He saw this bright orb through a telescope and sensed that it was a far-off kindred spirit, or at least a potential friend. The drawing cleverly plays on the parallel between Casper's ghostly countenance and the round, pale face of the Moon, whose craters look like eyes and a mouth.
After a voyage through the universe that takes in Saturn and a few other planets, Casper lands on the Moon. But what a let-down it is! Not a soul seems to live there. Exhausted by his long trip, Casper takes a nap. And that’s when an army of tiny men pop up and take him captive, carrying him off to their leader, King Luna. Casper’s problems only go away when more strange creatures arrive: a band of Treemen attack the Moon army, and that gives Casper a chance to show what he’s made of. He becomes the defender of the people who wronged him and, having saved them, is acclaimed at last. Casper takes his place among the Moon people.
The fact that this short episode in the Casper the Friendly Ghost series has a basic, uncomplicated plot in no way detracts from the charm of this classic 1950s cartoon. The visual inventiveness and the pacing of the animation are remarkable. We delight in the delayed reactions of humans who bump into Casper in the streets of the big city, the way the magic carpet wraps around King Luna and how Casper’s sneaks underground to tie the legs of the fearsome-looking Treemen together. This is a little gem of animation and deserves to be watched with the whole family!
