Here Are Some Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trailer Moments That Raise A Few Red Flags For Nervous Fans
With the nostalgia dial turned to eleven these days, there's not a day that goes by when you don't hear about some old, popular property being rehashed for a new generation, and the trailers for Ghostbusters: Afterlife have raised a few red flags that might not bode well for the third installment in the franchise. Until we can see it for ourselves, we'll just have to hope they get addressed in the new film.
Be warned. We're about to get nerdy on this one.
Nepotism Is Alive And Well In Hollywood
Jason Reitman has plopped down in his dad's (Ivan Reiman) director's chair this time 'round. He even wrote the new movie. But who are we to judge? Just remember this, the original screenplay was a collaboration of professional sketch comedians who knew how to sell a joke. So, there's that.
The Cousin Oliver Problem (ask your grandparents what that means)
Ghostbusters wasn't really a kid's movie. Sure, there was a Saturday Morning cartoon, but even then it was about adults busting ghosts because giving children access to a nuclear particle accelerator is just darn irresponsible. Not only was it tough for grown men to carry one of these heavy backpacks, these devices vaporize anything they hit with them.
Now precocious kids with nicknames like Podcast, Thickneck, Lucky, And Swayze are great for a Disney flick, but not here. What are they The Lost Boys from Hook? The humor in Ghostbusters was quick, savvy, and brilliantly improved in some cases. Try and imagine that kind of sketch comedy nuance coming from a group of tweens and teens. (We weren't kidding. A kid is really nicknamed Podcast. Way to date your film straight out the gate.)
We Need To Talk About Muncher
The Slimer avatar in the film is some kind of gloopy blue eating machine affectionately called Muncher (feels like lazy writing). This thing looks more like a Tardigrade than a ghost. Recently, it was also revealed that Frozen actor Josh Gad is voicing it. According to Reitman,
Josh and I ran into each other on the Sony lot and I was like, 'Hey, do you want to come voice this ghost?' And he was like 'Yes!' And he literally just walked in the room, he started doing sounds ... and that is where the sound of Muncher came from.
Stunt casting at its finest.
Roasting Marshmallow Men
There are Mini Stay Puft Marshmallow Men mucking about in the trailer doing all manner of cute stuff. But why? In the first film, Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) accidentally conjured the big guy when asked by Zuul to pick what form of Gozer The Gozerian, the destroyer of mankind, would take. So why are they in this other than as an excuse to add to your toy collection? (fans, you've been serviced)
These Kids Need Schooling
In the film, the kids never heard of the Ghostbusters, or that their grandfather Egon Spangler (the late, great Harold Ramis) was a founding member. Pretty sure time wouldn't forget when a giant Marshmallow Man crushed St. Patrick's Cathedral or when the freaking Statue of Liberty took a stroll through the harbor on New Year's Eve. #NEVERFORGET Nobody ever had to do a school report on Lady Liberty and added this little tidbit. We live in a world of online conspiracy theorists, even if the government was able to cover this up, the kids would have at least heard about these insane events even if they thought it was bunk.
We have a bit of a nostalgia problem in the world of entertainment these days. This constant need to relive our youth through the dilution of things we hold near and dear to our hearts by remaking, rebooting and sequel-izing properties from our childhood is often doing more damage than adding to the fun. On The flip side, complaining about how our childhoods are ruined when these movies get made is getting tired. The original is still there for you. Nobody took it away and if you don't like something, don't watch it. Others simply don't care either way.
The point is, no matter what side of the argument you take in the debate over Hollywood trying to cash in on our youths, guess what, they are going to do it anyway. It is your choice to either get on board or not, but at the end of the day, it's just a movie. You'll be alright.
This is not a slight on a film we haven't seen yet, we want Ghostbusters: Afterlife to be good, but in the same breath, we want to point out the mistakes so if these nostalgia projects are being made they can at least be worthy of the originals from which they spawned. Movies are subjective to the viewer and you don't have to like them all. That's why there are so many to choose from.
