Ghostbusters: Afterlife

It took me four years to get around to it, but I finally watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It feels like Ghostbusters mixed with Stranger Things and Goonies, which is a big task.

The cast is good. Paul Rudd does his Paul Rudd thing, with good performances from the teen actors who are mostly making their debuts. The characters do a good job of bringing on a new version of Egon and Ray, with a nice shoutout to the old cast as well. Harold Ramis and his passing are handled well, which is always tricky with such a beloved actor and his character.

Doing justice to Ramis and the original franchise is the main task for a movie like this. There’s always a risk of damaging a storied franchise, just look at Star Wars and Marvel. Thankfully, this movie does a good job of bringing in a new cast while serving up heaps of nostalgia for us old folks who were raised on the original Ghostbusters. I get surprisingly happy every time I hear the Ecto-1 siren, which is kind of sad to be honest. Normally I just have to endlessly rewatch my old movies, but this sequel brought me right back with some of the scenes. Honestly, the Ecto-1 scenes in this movie are worth the watch on their own.

There’s not really enough room to develop the new characters and plot to their potential, but the movie does a good job of doing just enough of each. It gets a 7.