This was one of those movies that came along and made me fully realize how incredibly loyal its fan base is, unless we're talking about the 2016 version, which provided, shall we say, mixed emotions. But at the end of the day, I consider it non-canonical, a fair attempt at a re-imagining, but still not my Ghostbusters. Nevertheless, upon its release, critics weren't big on it, but fans (including myself) enjoyed it for what it was. This kind of establishes that 'Ghostbusters' movies are far more fan-driven projects, and to some degree, I can respect that. However, for as much as I don't terribly mind it, I can understand where so many critics come from, as this wasn't something I'd dub "perfect" by any means, and I say that as a huge fan of 'Ghostbusters' (remember, the original is my favourite movie of all time). So I will do my best to look at it from every angle, both critically and as a die-hard fan. I can, however, say quite honestly that as time passes, the more I watch this chapter of the 'Ghostbusters' saga, the more I appreciate it, and the more I can wrap my head around some of my criticisms and use my imagination to fill in the blanks. We open things here 30-someodd years after the events of 'Ghostbusters II', where we meet Egon Spengler's estranged family; daughter, Callie (Carrie Coon), and grandkids, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard). While Trevor is a bit more what one would consider a "normal" teenager, Phoebe largely takes after her grandfather - not only in the ways of science, but she has his dry sense of humour and general attitude as well. Really, she kinda carries the movie, and to me, is pretty much perfect casting for who we'd imagine Egon's granddaughter to be. They family learns of Egon's passing, and further find out that the only inheritance he left them was a creepy old farm house in the middle of a quaint little town called Summerville - home to the Shandor mining operations. This is a callback to the first film which mentions a lunatic architect, Ivo Shandor, who once headed the cult of Gozer; Gozer, of course, being the big baddie from the first film. Thankfully, however, this isn't just fan service, and is all part of the big story, making 'Afterlife' the true spiritual sequel to the 1984 film. Yes, there's a 'Ghostbusters II', but the story in that has no tie-ins with the original. Getting back into it, Phoebe ends up taking a summer science course, "taught" by seismologist, Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), whose method of teaching is basically to throw on a horror movie for the kids who don't wanna be there. Phoebe also meets "Podcast" (Logan Kim), who quickly becomes her lab partner. Meanwhile, Trevor meets a waitress named Lucky (Celeste O'Connor), by applying for a job at the diner she works at, in an attempt to get to know her better. Soon, Phoebe meets Egon's ghost, who guides her on how to use Ghostbusting equipment, necessary to continue his work, which is ultimately preventing the end of the world. As a critic, I would say there were some things that either weren't needed, or should have had some better explanation; namely, the mini marshmallow men, who make it abundantly clear that they're there for a laugh in the same way 'Dispicable Me' minions are. And while they are adorable, it quite honestly does feel like a cheap way to get an "aww". There's also a moment or two here that make one wonder about some of the characters' stupidity, like Gruberson opening a ghost trap just to see what's inside. But even with any crtiicisms I have for the film, I also fall under the categry of "fanboy", and there's a lot here for people like me. On the whole, there's a huge nostalia factor here that works out really nicely for us hardcores. It even goes right down to a Nestle Crunch wrapper in Egon's old suit's pocket JUST because Peter gave one to Egon in the first film. It's a great title for 'Ghostbusters' nostalgia, and a loving, even somewhat tear-jerking tribute to the late, great Harold Ramis. Criticisms aside, there's a lot of heart put into this, and writer/director Jason Reitman has managed to fill his father Ivan's shoes quite nicely. 4/5
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To put my cards on the table, even for as much as a 'Ghostbusters' fan as I am, even I can admit that this movie is pretty damn ridiculous and, often, kinda dumb. But so help me, that's exactly what makes it so entertaining for me. One should also bear in mind that I was still a kid when this came out, so there will always be that nostalgic influence for me as well. This isn't what I'd say is a movie that's "so bad, it's good" as much as I'd say I'd simply mark it as a guilty pleasure. It's something recognizably "bad" that I still hold near and dear to me. As far as the big screen goes, this was the original Ghostbusters' last hoorah, while all four lead actors were still in their prime. However, I feel obligated to point out that the video game, initially released in 2009, was pointed out by Dan Aykroyd, himself, that it was meant to serve as the proper 'Ghostbusters 3' for those who were still waiting for that title to be an actual film. If you're a fan and get the chance for a play-through, I can highly recommend it. Controls take a bit to get used to, but everything about the story feels "right" for the franchise's legacy. But that's the third storyline, and we're here to talk about the second one, which I've always considered to be a generous blending of both the spirits of the previous live-action film and the animated series, which I was frankly addicted to at the time of this film's release. So, as a kid, anything that I find completely ridiculous now is just an added bit of comedy to the whole thing and makes it, in a word, "fun". I mean, for crying out loud, they make the Statue of Liberty walk around Manhattan in this movie. I'm not sure it was ever meant to be taken too seriously. 'Ghostbusters II' takes place five years after the events of the previous film (essentially in real time) wherein what we don't see in the aftermath is that their collective heroism that fateful night when they fought Gozer got them all sued and barred from their destructive work for good. Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) opens an occult book shop, Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) runs experiments on human emotions, Peter Veknman (Bill Murray) hosts a television show called 'World of the Psychic', and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), other than being a bad children's entertainer alongside Ray, is pretty much left to the imagination. Meanwhile, Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) works at an art museum for her funny little boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol) who probably has most of the funniest, memorable and quotable lines in the film. Dana also has an infant son named Oscar (William T. Deutschendorf/Henry J. Deutschendorf II) and works alongside a very creepy painting, portraying a 16th Century tyrant named Vigo the Carpathian (Wilhelm von Homburg). This is where we get the idea of haunted/possessed objects, as that painting is possessed with the soul of the same tyrant it portrays which, in turn, also possesses Janosz so that Vigo can use him as a sort of puppet. Vigo chooses this time (around New Years, heading into 1990) to be resurrected in a human form and spread his reign of terror, but needs a human child in order to live again. Of course, that child ends up being Oscar, and it'll be up to the Ghostbusters to stop him. In the meantime, the boys contend with a thick, pink slime that seems to be tied in with Vigo and the negative energy of the whole city, thus dubbed "mood slime", and eventually becomes the "frienemy" the Ghostbusters need to fight this Carpathian dude. There are a few welcome returns to the cast as well, like Annie Potts coming back as a much more cartoonified Janine Melnitz, Rick Moranis coming back as the lovable loser, Louis Tully, and of course, our favourite little spud, Slimer (if only briefly. Honestly after the first film, Slimer acts as more of an Easter Egg in these movies). The film isn't a strong one, but there's plenty to enjoy here as an oldschool fan, and acts as a friendly reminder that sometimes we just wanna be entertained by the silly and strange, which Ghostbusters has pretty much always been, especially when the Cartoon was such a hit at this time. 3/5 I know, I know, this is old news, but 'Ghostbusters' ('84) is my favourite film of all time, and there's a whole story to it all that all my readers have read time and time again. For that, head over here to my "Five Star" review on it. What we have here is just a shorter review that kinda gets straight to the point, and instead of going into why it's my favourite film, it'll go into why it's just an all-around good film, and, I'd even say, remains forever the best title in the 'Ghostbusters' collection. A fine example of "nothing tops the original." 'Ghostbusters' is the brainchild of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, veering off a bit from Aykroyd's original vision of he and, at the time, John Belushi, would travel through time and space to battle a series of supernatural threats. Sadly, however, Belushi passed in 1982, and the budget for the film wasn't exactly on par with Aykroyd's vision. That's when, Ramis was brought in to help make things a little more practical, and change it up to a crew of exterminators, rounding up nasty spectral entities, residing in New York City. I have to admit though, I'm super curious to see what Aykroyd's original vision would have looked like. The end result, however, involves three paranormal research scientists; Ray Stantz (Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Ramis) and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), who, one day, get the boot from a college that refuses to fund their unusual experiments any further. Venkman sees this as a sign that the trio should go into business for themselves based on the paranormal experimentation they've been working on. The business; think of it as a sort of "pest-control", but instead of rounding up cockroaches and rats, they use high-tech gadgets to capture ghosts, spirits, spectres, entities, y'know, something strange in the neighbourhood. With their secretary, Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts), it's not long before their business takes off, and the three becomes a trio of hometown heroes. However, one case in particular involving the lovely Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) involves some deeper, darker stuff than just capture/trap missions involving an anciet Sumerian God named Gozer (Slavitza Jovan), and her minions, the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster who, if not stopped, could very well bring about the end of the world. With all of the paranormal activity building up, they bring in a fourth Ghostbuster named Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) for help. I'd be hard-pressed not to mention the presense of two more great characters from this. First there's Louis Tully (Rick Moranis), Dana's neighbour who provides us with some of the funniest awkward, nerdy comedy relief that balances the comedy in the film with Venkman's cool, calm and sarcastic sense of humour really well. Then there's Walter Peck (William Atherton) who works for the EPA, is a secondary villain in this, and interestingly enough, we hate him so easily for just doing his job to the best of his abilities. Both are pretty great side characters who each add to the story in their own unique way. More to mention of the overall quality of the movie, it's pretty amazing to still be able to watch this movie today and appreciate how incredibly good the practical effects in it look. Remembering that this came out in 1984, it's another fine example of the fact that sometimes CG is just unnecessary. I still think the ghosts look better here than they do as fully CG-rendered entities in the 2016 film. There may be a bit of a cheapness to it for viewers nowadays, but I still think it works incredibly well, especially with characters like our beloved "Slimer" (who was actually inspired by Belushi with his final design). 'Ghostbusters' is one of the most unlikely films to withstand the test of time in a big way. When you really think about it, on paper, the whole thing sounds so insane that it just plain shouldn't work. Especially when you bring in things like a 100-foot Marshmallow Man that by all means should have been seen as jumping the shark. Somehow or another, it all just fits together incredibly well, combining aspects of horror and comedy while being strong with imagination. It was never meant to be taken too seriously, and I think that's why fans like myself just don't have as many critical issues with the rest of the series. The Ghostbusters will always have a place in my heart! 5/5 Once again, as this series continues, it keeps up with developing Po's (Jack Black) character by delving even deeper into his origins while still pushing the story forward. In other words, the more time we spend learning of Po's past, the more we can appreciate how the film is trying to develop him as a means to defeat villains who, in each film, progressively get more powerful. This time around, things stem from the tail ending of the previous film in which we briefly meet Po's father (Fred Tatasciore at the time) who learns that Po's still alive. To expand on that, when we last left Po, he defeated a ruthless peacock named Shen (Gary Oldman) who, when Po was a baby, destroyed Po's village, hunting for the panda who would one day put a stop to his attempt to take over China, as prophesied. While Po's mother rescues him, she is killed in the process, and he and his father have been separated since. Po was soon adopted by a goose named Mr. Ping (James Hong), and the rest is pretty much history. Po becomes the fabled "Dragon Warrior," and lives a life of heroism alongside "The Furious Five"; Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), and his sensei, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). While Po continues this life, something sinister is brewing in the Spirit Realm, as we reunite with Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim); the Kung Fu tortoise who trained Master Shifu, and who found inner peace and passed away in the first film. He is attacked by a spirit warrior yak named Kai (J.K. Simmons) who has stolen collected all of the other Kung Fu masters' "Chi" (essentially a Kung Fu warrior's essense) and, with Oogway's, will be able to return to the mortal realm. Of course, Kai succeeds in this, using vast amounts of Chi from other warriors to defeat Oogway. But Oogway is sure to warn him that he's destined to be defeated. Upon his return, Kai realizes (in pretty humorous fashion) that he's been forgotten after such a long time, gets enraged by this, and aims to tear down Oogway's legacy. In the meantime, Shifu announces his retirement to Po and the Five, and chooses Po to be his successor based on his "Dragon Warrior" title, to which Po is understandably apprehensive, but this is kinda where the plot point of finding one's self comes into play, as Po's trying to teach like Shifu instead of using his own methods. To add to it all, he is randomly visited by his father, Li Shan (now played by Bryan Cranston). They bond immediately, but this ultimately makes Mr. Ping jealous. The village comes under attack by mysterious jade warriors who each resemble fallen Kung Fu masters, and are controlled with Kai's massive amounts of Chi that he stole from each of them. The Five manage to stave them off for the time being, but learnt he only way they'll get one over on Kai is by training in the ways of Chi, which, according to legend, the pandas have mastered. So, Li takes Po on a journey back to his home village to learn the ways of the panda, which should ultimately lead to learning about Chi, and how to use it to put a stop to this new villain. Each of these have some kind of life lesson within, and a lot of it has to do with varying forms of self-discovery. While the first one has a little more to do with finding who one is meant to be, the second covers where one comes from and who one truly is. With this, I find it sort of combines the first two as it seems to be very much about enlightenment, and learning what makes you you. These are just my takeaways, however, and I feel like there's a lot to be taken from these films when it comes to personal growth. As far as this series is concerned, this is another solid title for it. I still like the second film's villain a bit more overall, and would consider him a bit more of an arch nemesis for Po. Further to that, I think at times this does get a little cutesy, but that's just a nitpick, and not even a heavy one. All in all, this has been a great series for family viewing, helping the young viewers to grow in a positive way while even us adults can learn a thing or two about things like "inner peace". It doesn't have quite the same impact the second one does for me, but it's still super solid. 4/5 For as much as I love the first 'Kung Fu Panda', I would probably say that in comparison, this one is actually much better. The first film remains the classic of the series, but this film follows through with character development, depth, better fight choreography and animation and continues the story nice and smoothly while simultaneously giving us an origin story on Po (Jack Black), our favourite martial artist panda. It also adds more great voice talent to the cast, and higher levels of drama and action. It's what a sequel should be. When we last left Po and the Furious Five, Po was revealed to be the fabled, albeit unlikely Dragon Warrior by defeating the greedy snow leopard, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), who believed himself to be destined for the same title, but with wickedness in his heart. Since then, Po has lived a life of peace alongside the "Five", Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Viper (Lucy Liu), and his sensei, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who one day advises Po that he will not be a true Kung Fu master until he achieves inner peace, and a lot of it has to do with a traumatic past that Po can't quite remember. This ties in with our big baddie of the film, a peacock named Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), son of the rulers of Gongmen City who invent fireworks for purposes of awe and beauty. However, Shen discovers that the gunpowder used in fireworks can also be used as effective weapons. Worried, his parents call in a ram soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh), who foretells of Shen one day being stopped by a warrior of black and white (guess who). This leads to Shen using the newfound weapons against a community of pandas, and banished as a result of his violent tendencies. In his anger, he then assembles a wolf army to help him raid villages for scrap metal in order to build cannons that will hopefully help him take over China. During one of their raids on a village, the Furious Five are called to action, and during the fight, Po recognizes a symbol on one of the wolf's armour that gives him flashbacks. Traumatic hidden memories start getting revealed, leading him to try to find out what happened to his real parents after his Dad, Mr. Ping (James Hong), the goose, tells him much to his surprise that he's adopted. In the meantime, Shen is starting to succeed in his mission by taking Gongmen city, and one by one taking down powerful Kung Fu regents Masters Thundering Rhino (Victor Garber), Ox (Dennis Haysbert) and Croc (Jean-Claude Van Damme). The Furious Five are then sent to Gongmen City to put a stop to Shen's reign of terror, but Po is constantly distracted by his hidden past and how it ties in with Shen, and the symbol he keeps seeing within Shen's army. So the big themes of this film from the get-go involve Po finding out where it is he really comes from and how Shen was involved in his past, which is probably very obvious during Shen's backstory at the very beginning, but my apologies if I've breached spoiler territory. Even knowing, however, one can still feel for Po throughout the film and really route for him to succeed, and find the answers he's looking for. I would probably say that this is, personally speaking, my favourite of the bunch. It does a very good job with delivering all of the good humour, inspiration and fun of the first one all while cranking the volume up on those things and adding more backstory, drama and action. I also frankly like the villain here a bit better. Oldman's wonderful voice acting aside, Shen reminds me a lot more of a Sauruman type from 'Lord of the Rings' and feels like more of a threat. Plus I just like the badass design of his character, and the idea that he uses his feathers as daggers. As I mentioned before, I do love 'Kung Fu Panda', but 'Kung Fu Panda 2' takes everything that was great about the first one and cranks it up to vey satisfying results. Although the outcome is generally predictable (again, my apologies for spoilers, but remember, we have more to come after this) the ride is still a pretty great ride, and the addition of a more dramatic edge to things to make it a touch darker is a welcome one. And while the series doen's necessarily go downhill from here, I'd still consider this the best of what is, altogether, a pretty great batch of animated adventure flicks. 5/5 I've always had a soft spot for this movie. It's the first in its series, so it has that now classic feel, it's both good for a laugh and good to inspire, the voice cast is solid, and it's a lot of fun as it balances the silliness of it all with some real-world wisdom, albeit pretty basic wisdom. But that's just it - the basic wisdom is great for the kids watching, and acts as a friendly reminder to those who are older who may be stuck with things like stress. Perhaps it sounds odd and a bit overthought, but I think there's something to it. The film has a big, obvious, even derivative takeaway at the end, but there are also little nods in here to things like having patience, believing in yourself when no one else does and even the thought of needing to work hard to receive what your want out of life - in this case being a Kung Fu master. I've read some criticisms on the reality of what that would consist of vs. the movie, but to them, I say, that's not the point. The big takeaway is that its within your power to be what you want to be, regardless of the process, how long it takes or how strenuous it would be in reality. Personally, I think it does a great job of being inspirational. Taking place in an alternate world of anthropomorphic animals, in China, a daydreamer of a panda named Po (Jack Black) works with his Dad (who is, in fact, a goose), Mr. Ping (James Hong) at a noodle restaurant, and fantasizes about being a Kung Fu master, fighting alongside the "Furious Five"; Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Viper (Lucy Liu). The Five are trained by their sensei, a red panda named Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) who has trained each of them up to potentially become the fabled "Dragon Warrior." And though famous in the community, Po looks up to them more than just about anyone. One day, Shifu's old sensei, a tortoise named Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) predicts the escape of Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a snow leopard who was once a pupil of Shifu, since imprisoned and guarded by a rhino named Commander Vachir (Michael Clarke Duncan). He plots to attack the village in order to steal the Dragon Scroll, which is given to the Dragon Warrior, and is said to have great power. However, he was denied it when Oogway saw something evil in him. Anyway,. long story short, of course, Tai Lung escapes because the movie needs a bad guy. At the ceremony that will dub one of the Five the "Dragon Warrior," Po tries to get in once the doors are closed for the proceedings only to, through a bit of jack-assery accidentally find himself to get "chosen" to be the Dragon Warrior, much to the Five's dismay, especially Tigress, who was really eye-balling that title. Po stays to be trained in the martial arts, not giving up because "there are no accidents" according to Oogway, and in turn, Shifu must learn patience when it comes to Po's training while the Five must learn tolerence and, to some degree, not to be cocky. So there's quite a bit crammed in here. Thankfully, the film doesn't feel like its bogged down in after-school-special messages, as they are pretty subtle, yet still clear. I might consider it one of the best animated films out there to show to kids of all ages, as it covers so much ground while remaining perfectly humorous and even kind of relatable, as far as Po's character goes. He is a clumsy, silly character whose humour comes from his weight quite a bit. But the idea that he's an unlikely hero is a part of it as well, and even though "zero-to-hero" is a bit of a trope, I still usually find inspiration in such stories if they're written well, and this definitely works. Apart from some good humor and a series of good moral messages, a lot of the film's quality also comes from the beauty of the animation, which, aside from making lovable characters, makes China look pretty picturesque and beautiful. In so many ways, this is just a solid, quality watch if only to escape for a bit into something more innocent and fun, but at the same time, kinda deep in its own way at points. Perhaps I look into it a bit much, but I really do consider this to be a one of the big modern classics when it comes to animated films. 4/5 |