Movie Review: The Canterville Ghost (1996)

I've always loved ghost stories, documentaries and movies. Whenever I see that a ghost movie is airing on the tube, I naturally try and catch it when it is airing. If I can't though, I'll always make sure I record it on my TIVO.

My most recent find was titled The Canterville Ghost (1996). I imagined it would be some sort of interesting documentary, but unfortunately it was not.

The movie though featured Neve Campbell as one of the main characters, and I've always liked Neve, so I hit record and waited to find the time to sit down and watch it.

The Canterville Ghost starts of in a dull manner. A family is about to move into a new home, however as soon as they pull up to their new home, you immediately notice that their home is not a house; their new home is a giant castle.

Ginny (Neve Campbell), the oldest daughter is not at all excited about the move. She wants nothing more than to just head back home to where her friends all are. Her two younger brothers though are pretty excited that they will be staying in a castle.

Unfortunately for the new family, the home is already occupied with the cursed ghost of Sir Simon Canterville.

At first the ghost of Simon tries to scare out the family to be left alone in his misery. You see centuries ago Sir Simon was told by a friend that his wife was unfaithful. As soon as he found out she was unfaithful, he began accusing her, and treating her poorly. Eventually she killed herself due to his accusations.

After her death, Sir Simon was told the rumor of his wife being untrue was a lie. Sir Simon is so distraught by the loss of his wife, he takes the blame for her death. He is then locked inside of a hidden room inside of his castle where he starves to death. He is also cursed to forever remain in the castle.

In order for Simon's spirit to finally be at rest, an pure heart has to forgive him for what he had done, because he cannot forgive himself.

Sir Simon eventually takes a liking to Ginny, and she wants to help Sir Simon finally be at peace with himself. It is up to her to lift the curse.

Without ruining the movie, I will say one word to sum up how I felt about it, and that word is, 'BORING'.
 
The flick may of had a surviving chance had the acting not been done so poorly. Sir Simon (Patrick Stewart) is the only character in the movie that is interesting and believable. Everyone else fails to make a connection with each other, and with their own character.

I was pretty surprised at how forced every line out of Neve Campbell's mouth seemed. Her character Ginny was supposed to be in love with a Duke named Francis, but she fails to make a believable romantic connection with him.

There are also parts in the movie that are so long and boring and unnecessary, and then there are parts that seem rushed when they shouldn't have been.

The ending for instance ends so quickly and abrupt that you are left feeling stupid for even taking the time out to finish it.

Overall The Canterville Ghost (1996 version) was bland, dull, and lacked deeply when it came to acting. This one is by far one of the worst films I've ever seen Neve Campbell in.

It gets 1 star out of 5 from me. Had Patrick Stewart not been in it, it would of received no stars from me at all, but seeing that he did a good job at portraying a believable ghost, he takes the star.