New Ghostbusters Movie Fails to Destroy My Childhood

Over a year ago, when they announced a new Ghostbusters movie was in the works and that it was going to be a reboot featuring an all-female cast, my childhood didn't cry out in pain.  I completely failed to be upset that we were getting an alternate storyline and that Ghostbusters 3 wasn't going to happen (I mean c'mon, we all remember #2). Is the original a bonafide classic? You bet your stay puft marshmallow man it is! Do I still love it? Absolutely! Did the new Ghostbusters ruin the original for me? No. Not even a little bit.

I don't pretend to understand people's mindsets when it comes to reboots.

Most reboots/remakes are needless and a fair amount of them don't work at all (Robocop, Evil Dead, et al). But then many of them do: Planet of the Apes reboot, Star Trek, Godzilla, Batman, to name a few.

​So why did a Ghostbusters reboot cause so much hatred? When the trailer was released it received a record-breaking amount of thumbs-down and hundreds of comments about people's childhoods being torn apart. Is Paul Feig a Terminator? Did he go back in time and start wiping out our childhoods? I feel that would paradoxically be a bad idea and would likely affect future ticket sales and, ya know, the time space continuum. The new movie had the blessings of the original cast (many of who had cameos, even Ramis) and had Ivan Reitman as a producer! So where was the problem?

I was more concerned when they announced Kristin Wiig was one of the main characters. I've never been able to find her funny, I can't figure out why, I guess it's just the subjectivity of humour. However, I even liked her in this, mostly because her and McCarthy played off each other so well. ​

Hemsworth played a perfect beautiful dumb guy, Leslie Jones filled her 'New Yorker with attitude' role with just the right amount of over-the-top personality. And the new toys, vehicle, and base of operations were all great with some well-placed subtle nods to the original. The bad guy was mediocre and his motivation wasn't anything new, but it successfully pushed the main story forward; the Ghostbusters' finding each other and growing together as a team. 

It was a fun popcorn movie and I'm sure we'll cover it more on the Trilogy Spoilers Podcast but I do want to highlight two pieces that made the movie:

​1. Kate McKinnon's characterization of Jillian Holtzmann stole the show for me. She was hilarious and consistent throughout. She was adorable and quirky and had one of the most visually stunning and action-packed kickass scenes in the movie. I'd happily watch a 2-hour Holtzmann movie!

2. From the initial haunting to the finale, the visual effects were absolutely splendid. All the ghosts and creatures looked absolutely beautiful and it was fun to see some old favourites bouncing around in the mix. Could you tell the ghosts were CGI? Yes. Know why? Because ghosts aren't real! And if they are, they definitely don't act.

Most importantly out of all this, my childhood remains intact, I expect along with everyone else's too. The movie was released and 10 year-old me did not cry out in anguish. We did it, guys. We survived a Ghostbusters reboot, and it was pretty damn awesome!