On the whole, the Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons are nice and enjoyable, if not exactly animation milestones. Casper Comes to Clown is not one of the best of the series, but it's still pretty good, especially for a filmography as inconsistent as Famous Studios and their Noveltoons.
In terms of story, Casper Comes to Clown is rather samey and predictable, anybody familiar with the previous Casper cartoons will be disappointed by the lack of variety and heavy repetition story-wise. The dialogue is not particularly memorable either and occasionally becomes a bit mawkish. And while the cartoon is very impressively animated, the gorilla to me was not particularly well drawn, rather over-sized even for a threat and wasn't quite sinister enough, his character design being somewhat goofy and the scene itself being slightly rushed.
However, Casper Comes to Clown is animated beautifully, being lusciously coloured with very detailed and picturesque backgrounds (from the spooky opening to the colourful circus setting) and appropriately smooth drawing, nothing looks stiff or scrappy here. The reactions to Casper from the other characters are nicely varied and some, like with the bees, inventive. Winston Sharples' score as ever is a highlight, there is a real sense of mood and atmosphere, it has plenty of lively energy, orchestrally it's mellow and whimsical without dissolving into syrup and it complements the action wonderfully, enhancing it even at times.
Casper Comes to Clown is not as funny as some of the other Casper cartoons, like Boo Hoo Baby or Once Upon a Rhyme, but it does have the odd amusing moment (mostly the reactions), it starts atmospherically and the charming and sweet moments in the friendship between Casper and the bear avoid being too sentimentalised on the most part. The climax generates some tension, but never feels too much or too intense, like I said with the climax of Boo Scout it's tame compared to that of There's Good Boos To-Night. The story is paced swiftly, but also has a nice gentle feel and captures the essence of childhood innocence beautifully.
The friendship between Casper and the bear is nicely done, and both characters, with Casper being emotive and kind-hearted, and the bear joining the long lines of truly adorable friends. The voice acting is appropriate and as dependable as ever. To conclude, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox
