“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is the third film in the continuity timeline started by the 1984 classic film, “Ghostbusters.” Down on their luck, a family moves to a small town to live in a creepy old house their grandfather left them after his death.
Pro โ Big Heart
One of the most pleasant surprises of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is the amount of heart the film has. The original film has incredibly likeable characters, but for most of the film they range from aloof to down-right charlatans. “Ghostbuster: Afterlife,” on the other hand, puts the audience right in the fray with a young family with very real and relatable struggles. After the passing of Egon Spangler, his daughter and her two teenage children head to small-town Oklahoma to settle his estate, but decide to stay after learning they are being evicted. The film focuses on them as they adjust to a new town and in that process, begin to release their connection to the mythical Ghostbusters. In some ways, it should not be a surprise how much heart this film has. Egon Spangler (played by the late Harold Ramis) was the heart, soul, and brains of the Ghostbusters. By following his family, the film manages to weave in themes of family, loss, regret, and redemption, and while clumsy at times, overall it really is heart-warming.
Neutral โ Take my money
The beauty of capitalizing on peopleโs nostalgia by doing remakes and sequels is they are often an easy cash cow. The difficulty is those same fans who canโt wait to hand over their money, also canโt wait to criticize what is new because itโs not what is old. Some fans will be angry because the movie is too different than what they remember from being 10. Conversely, some will be bitter if itโs too similar. “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” will feel very familiar to those that love the originals. Much like “Star Wars The Force Awakens” though, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is itโs own movie but it cribs a ton from the original. Some people will love that, and parts of it felt great, but it also got tiresome at times. The Sumerians worshiped over 3,000 different gods; couldnโt this film have picked a different one?
Con โ An exception
The biggest issue with “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is that it feels like the original in almost all ways, except one; itโs not funny. Some people view “Ghostbusters” as an action-adventure film with funny lines in it. In this reviewerโs opinion, “Ghostbusters” (1984) is in fact the funniest movie of all time, and thus is a comedy that uses action-adventure as a device for that humor. “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” has attempts to be funny, but simply isnโt. The only laugh-out-loud moment comes at the end, and takes a blast from the past to do it. Paul Rudd simply isnโt funny playing Paul Rudd, and the cast never has a chance of rekindling the magic of the comedy giants whose shoes they occupy.
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is a good movie. Itโs fun, exciting, has great visuals, and is surprisingly heartwarming. The (mostly) young cast does a very nice job. Itโs a franchise that really should have let the perfection of the 1984 movie stand alone, but if more money was going to be squeezed, this was an admirable outing. Be aware, itโs not that funny. Jump in Ecto-1 and careen down to the Fridley Palms Theater to check it out on the big screen.
