“When there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!” Ray Parker Jr. wrote these lyrics for the Oscar-nominated song “Ghostbusters,” the theme song of the film which which was released on June 8th, 1984 and was directed by Ivan Reitman. 35 years later, Reitman’s son, Jason Reitman teamed up with his father and Gil Kenan to reboot the story. In this new version, a modern-day family relocates to a country town and together discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and their role in the continuing saga. While Ivan produced, Jason Reitman directed and co-wrote the script with Kenan. Jason literally “grew up” on the set of the original “Ghostbusters” watching his father direct the original. This is my review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife:
Callie is a single mom with two young children, Trevor and Phoebe, and they have been evicted from their home, relocating to a farmhouse they inherited from Callie’s father in Summerville, Oklahoma. Neither Callie nor the children have ever known anything about him, or how died or what he was up to before he died. They just feel the pain of being abandoned by him. When they relocate, they learn that their father/grandfather was, in fact, Egon Spengler, a former Ghostbuster who played a significant role in the “ghost attack” in New York in 1984. As they continue to find out more and more information about Egon, they ultimately find themselves in trouble with the town sheriff and ultimately with new ghosts.
This movie is unbelievably well-written. It is as funny as it is touching, as it pays a loving tribute to the late-great Harold Ramis, who not only played Egon Spengler, but also co-wrote both of the original “Ghostbusters” films with Dan Aykroyd. Ramis passed away at the age of 69, in 2014, and besides the “Ghostbusters,” series he was also known for co-writing and directing: Caddyshack (1980), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999), and Year One (2009). The original “Ghostbusters,” was the highest-grossing comedy of all-time, succeeded by Home Alone (1990), six years later. That would not have happened had it not been for Harold Ramis, and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” in my view nicely continues the legacy, helping Ramis’ “spirit” to live on in the world of movies.
The film’s main casts consists of Carrie Coon as Callie, McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard as Phoebe and Trevor, respectively, along with Paul Rudd as the summer schoolteacher Mr. Grooberson. Logan Kim plays the kids’ new friend, Podcast. The new characters are entertaining, and the child actors are exceptional in their roles. Spoiler Alert: It is equally entertaining when we finally see Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson return as Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddermore along with Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz. While it is disappointing that Rick Moranis does not appear in this movie, the return of the rest of the gang, including a surprise post-script all bring clever humor to the film.
In addition to having an exceptional script by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, the film includes music composed by Rob Simonsen, though the music does include references to Elmer Bernstein’s score from the original. The film was co-edited by Nathan Orloff and Dana E. Glauberman. (Glauberman previously edited Jason Reitman’s Juno (2007)). Costumes were designed by Danny Glicker who received an Oscar Nomination for the costumes he designed for Milk (2008) and Production Design was done by Francois Audoy who did the production designing for Ford v. Ferrari (2019).
On the whole, Jason Reitman did an incredible job making a film based on his special childhood memory. You could say he made us all wish we all could have grown up on the set of the original “Ghostbusters.” If you weren’t a fan of the lady-Ghostbusters reboot, released in 2016, you will rest at ease when you go to the see this movie. Personally, I would rank it as one of the best reboots ever of an ‘80s film series.
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