Ghostbusters: Afterlife is solid entertainment

Cinema folks have been asking what is the movie that will get us back to the movie theater? For thousands of people and many families, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is the film that got us to purchase four tickets to see it. It’s an odd intersection for films right now because movie theaters would like people in their buildings and people are willing to leave their houses, but the movie-paying public has realized that the emperor has no clothes. Now that people have been watching ‘big screen’ movies on television for almost two years a lot of families have either raised their caliber of film entertainment, have less money to spend on optional things, realized that the entertainment level of films has been decreasing, or some combination thereof. So, with all of this in the mixing bag is Ghostbusters: Afterlife any good?

In this TLDR world, the answer for the common folk is yes, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a fine film that channels aspects of the original while charting its own course. The reason that you might be inferring some hesitancy there is because critics are saying that the movie is vacant or lacking in something. To that, I would simply say that some critics, much like the emperor, have their eyes too focused on art or being groundbreaking, and forget that simply being entertained in a quality manner, is a great accomplishment.

This film takes place in the same world and timeline as the first film and centers around the granddaughter of Egon. She has many of the same sensibilities, as well as the high intellect of her grandfather.  Her mom hadn’t seen Egon in decades and doesn’t have fond memories of him.

Most people are fans of the first film. What older viewers will immediately realize is the score that’s in the new one. The music in Ghostbusters: Afterlife is fabulous. At times it’s the same music, just at a slightly different tempo, but familiar enough to feel like an old friend is in the room with you. Even if you’re not attuned to background music or the score of a film, you’ll notice something is wistfully and effortlessly moving you along.

The child actors in the film are great too. They’re not too cute, in a performance way, nor are they hammy or do things that would only exist in a film. The kids are real and not annoying, sometimes it’s the simple things that matter in a film to nail down its entertainment quality. At times it feels like it’s channeling elements of The Goonies but in just the right ways.

Audiences will also appreciate the pacing of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It dangles the ghosts amongst the background of the story and its introduction of the new characters. It is also not all about the original Ghostbusters. All told, the remaining three busters, plus two other original characters, make up maybe twelve minutes of screen time. And even then, they’re sharing it with the characters that are the central focus of this movie.

Having said that; if the original Ghostbusters weren’t in this film then it would not have been as enjoyable for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, the script is fabulous. The story is natural, even though parts of it are spectral, and it’s obviously coming from a place of love and respect. It’s easy to say that any film that’s part of a cannon is out to make money, but there’s a difference between cashing in and telling a story. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is telling a story, has most of the characters that people loved from the first film, albeit for a fraction of the film, and has created its own mold.

There are feel-good elements, a couple of scary moments, and lots of fun sequences. It’s not a perfect movie, but it combines so much of what everyone wants to see in this film that it succeeds in what it is and sticks the landing. They didn’t mess it up, that’s what some viewers might be saying after they watch it. As enjoyable as Afterlife is, it’s not something that needed to be on the big screen to be entertaining. Movie theaters will certainly welcome the traffic, but this is a case of a quality film bringing people back, and not a retread that’s simply using memories or a lame script.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is rated PG-13 for a couple of scary scenes, sexual innuendo, and very mild language.