Written Review by Susanne Nielsen
The new Ghostbusters opens with a wild car chase, the Spengler/Grooberson family (Paul Rudd, Carey Coon, McKenna Grace,Finn Wolfhard) in their Ghost-mobile in pursuit of a vicious looking giant eal-like creature with very sharp teeth weaving its way through the New York streets flying just above the city’s traffic.
“ohhhh,” says one cop to another looking up, “don’t call it in – they’ve ( Ghostbusters speeding by !) got this!” Like police and firemen, The Ghostbusters have become a fixture of everyone’s friendly helpers.
And so we see them skidding along with all kinds of gadgets – including a seat that pops out to allow better aim and among the newest tech, even a drone released from the roof of the car to rein in those awful ghosts, by now overcrowding their historic Ghostbuster-home, the old fire house’s Ghost-trapping device. And yes, their operations do not always run smoothly.
So, it is only a matter of time when a new event – losing their captives from the other side – must feature as the main story-line. This time an ancient artifact, Proton barriers, and stopping the next ice-age become the focus of this movie – filled with nostalgia and wonderful new plot twists that make watching Ghostbusters again a sheer delight!
There is of course, the old crew, but wonderful new ones, as well. Together they must save the world!
If you don’t know the new characters who have joined the old guys like Akroyd, Murray and co., no worries! The two teens (Grace as Phoebe and Wolfhard as Trevor Spengler) are adorable – they offer brilliant science minds with just the right amount of nerdiness to remain endearing despite that ever irritated city mayor (William Atherton) who wants to shut them down.
That proton pack science that keeps the ghosts in their cages is quite volatile, and so mid-movie the inevitable happens, the creepy and obnoxious ghosts all get out, and seem to spill or spit lots of green goop especially at the new characters who take it in stride – that’s just what Ghosts do – normal in this Ghostbusters universe!
It’s all not quite as bad, and even the worst of them, the giant evil ghost with very big horns who, our learned ghost busting scientists find out, has been trapped in a strange brass globe and his ability to freeze those who are in his way. And there is that ghost girl (Emily Alyn Lind) who is very good at chess, (“I had a lot of time to practice”…) – who seems to have good reason to assist the ancient ghost to be free again.
A great addition to the cast of characters is comedic actor Kumail Ali Nanjiani, who graduates from accidental to accomplished “Fire master.” He is a fun match for the Ghostbuster guys, we hope to see him and all the others again!
In keeping with the series, now more than three, Ghostbusters is never really scary enough, and keeps us guessing what dangers await our friends, this time all this fire and ice business.
Who you gonna call to have fun? The makers seem to be saying: bring on the whole Spengler family gang! These ghostbusters are great,
Let’s go!