Overall Grade: (A+)
One of the classics from the 80’s with an outrageously fun plot, and a fantastic comedic cast.
Synopsis
A group of out of work professors who lose their college funding decide to set-up a ghost removal service inside an old firehouse. Considered to be jokes among many, the city will need them when it becomes overrun with ghosts.
My Thoughts
To say the “Ghostbusters” was a part of my childhood would be an understatement. Growing up as an 80’s kid there was nothing about the ghost fighting group of four that I didn’t love. The comics, cartoons, toys and clothes, video games, not to mention the massive number of times I have seen the movies. Even the sequel, as lackluster as I see it now, was highly entertaining to me. With the female-led cast currently filming a reboot to the franchise, I found it to be an easy excuse the give the 1984 original another watch.
No surprise to me, it still holds its replay value and regardless of the fact you have seen it many times before, you can still sit back and appreciate the creative story-line, fun characters, and excellent performances from some comedic greats. Over the years, while I do not particularly enjoy the mass of remakes and reboots filling cinemas.
I had held out a small glimmer of hope the original cast would return for a third film to round out the trilogy. After the unfortunate passing of Harold Ramis last year, the final light on that hope had faded. While I do hope this new film will be a success, and pay great homage to the source material, there is no doubt it my mind it will not surpass the original, nor do I think that will be the films intention to try and do such.
“Ghostbusters” is a wild adventure that people of all ages can sit back and enjoy, the story-line delivers many fun and hilarious moments and despite the 30-year age, still holds its relevance as a film with a well written and structured script. The fact the headlining cast were all excellent in their portrayals of Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Zeddmore, and made the most of the material did not hurt the enjoyment of this movie either.
The diversity in the brands of humor in this movie are what set it apart from the rest of the pack and make it memorable. Murray delivers his amusingly dry delivery as well as his womanizing and sarcastic personality, while Aykroyd and Ramis provide plenty of odd, quirky humor and Hudson comes in to ground the group out with his subtly comical reactions to the odd group he works with.
In addition this one has a solid supporting cast led by Sigourney Weaver as a more than capable female lead. She held great chemistry with the group and Murray in particular. Rounding out the bulk of the major cast members was Annie Potts and Rick Moranis who both came in with enjoyable performances, specifically Moranis who in my opinion was a major addition to this film delivering one of the more enjoyable characters in the entire film.
Even without the entertaining cast, the story is still great on its own. The uniting of the team and the building of the Ghostbusters business from the ground up is always fun to sit back and watch. The pace is held with a small group of enjoyable subplots to keep the interest high and attention drawn. The creativity in the scenes filled with digital ghosts were ambitious for the time and still look good despite the advances in technology today.
The third-act does not disappoint and all the tension the main plot builds throughout is paid off with the gigantic Stay Puft Marsh-mellow Man and how can you not appreciate the massive scope the climax delivers. The creativity in this movie is woven thick throughout and is why it will always be a nostalgic favorite to myself, and masses of others. Like I have said before, while these new remakes and reboots may fail to live up their predecessor, the good thing about this film trend is it reminds you to give the originals a watch, and “Ghostbusters” is always great to sit back and enjoy.
