Ghostbusters: Afterlife Brings Nostalgia
Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife continues the story of the original Ghostbusters franchise after the audience backlash to the 2016 Ghostbusters movie. Callie (Carrie Coon) and her children Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) are forced to move to an old farmhouse in Oklahoma that was owned by Callie’s father. The children soon learn that their grandfather was a Ghostbuster, specifically Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), one of the original Ghostbusters. The children discover why Egon moved to Oklahoma and what he was trying to stop.
The characters are the strong point of the movie. Grace gives a great performance as Phoebe, who takes after Egon with her genius intellect and socially-awkward personality. Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd) gives some great comedic moments while also giving exposition to the kids. However, it is strange how he is one of the only characters that remembers the existence of the original Ghostbusters crew. Podcast (Logan Kim) provides great scenes with his energetic personality and chemistry with Phoebe. All of the characters in the movie provide some comedic and heartwarming moments and give new and old fans a somewhat fresh cast to bond with.
However, one of the biggest problems with Ghostbusters: Afterlife is the constant nostalgia pandering throughout the movie. Whether it is a character saying, “Who you’re gonna call” or bringing back the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man for no logical reason, the movie spews references and has such a similar story to the original Ghostbusters that it makes the movie feel unoriginal. One of the only ghosts you see in the movie, the Muncher, might as well be the Slimer, except it eats metal. Some parts of the movie feel too forced, for example, near the end of the movie, a scene that should be exciting feels weak due to how abrupt the scene is. Ghostbusters: Afterlife gives a younger generation a chance to get into the series while also giving older fans many references to the original movies, but the nostalgia pandering can be too much for its own good and makes the movie seem too scared to try anything different.
