A familiar sound developed by Ray Parker Jr., can still be heard from back in the original days of the Manhattan Ghost escapades. In the distance you can hear that familiar phrase, “When somethings’ strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call!” This long-time tale of busting ghosts goes from the original clan from the 80’s to a family of one of the original ghost cops.
After Gozer and the incident in Somerville Oklahoma, the Spengler family moved back to New York and began Ghostbusting. The new family of this famous career of eliminating these mysterious creatures, is now cleaning up New York from their return. The Spengler family consists of mom Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), her son Trevor Spengler (Finn Wolfhard), her daughter Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace), and her boyfriend and former high school science teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd). Their ghosting adventures began to cost the city too much money and Phoebe was grounded due to her being a miner. With Phoebe being the most reckless and riding the gunner seat of the Ectomobile, while trying to capture ghosts, happened to raise the eyebrows of the Governor Walter Peck (William Atherton) who in return grounded her to being just a fan club member.
Now that the new clan is intertwined with our original heroes, the story begins to become more interesting. Podcast (Logan Kim), friend of Phoebe’s from Somerville, has the opportunity to work with Dr. Raymond “Ray” Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), former Ghostbuster and owner of Ray Stantz occult shop, in his shop working on purchasing and testing items with a strange history. Here they run into Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani), a con-artist and shifty salesman of unexplained relics.
Lucky Domingo (Celeste O’Connor), Trevor’s friend from Somerville and daughter of the police chief, has the opportunity to study in New York to learn about Ghostbusting from Dr. Lars Pinfield (James Acaster), current Ghostbuster scientist working for Dr. Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), former Ghostbuster and now CEO of his own company and owner of the firehouse. Finally, we have Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts), the former Ghostbusters secretary and now financial advisor for Winston and Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), the former leader of the original ghostbusters and current professor at SUNY Cortland.
Director and writer Gil Kenan brings us back into the mystifying world of ghouls and spirits. Here he put together a spectacular light show that brought new creatures to life. Looking into these interesting souls that blend old with new help build up a wonderful special effects narrative that is full of excitement. Along with these new heroes and villains for us to follow, fear, and cherish Gil again amazes us with such charismatic characters who will astonish us with a fantastic adventure through this strange place full of these wandering apparitions. He finally places it all together with a new and inspiring tale that will definitely entertain.
This fun fantastic adventure will bring you on a rollercoaster journey into the world of ghostbusting and the occult is worth the voyage to your nearest picture house. There you should choose the best format including IMAX, Dolby Atmos, and Standard to view this amazing story, buy some refreshments and enjoy.
Final Comment: I based my grade on the Spectacular performance by the cast, the excellent storyline, and the amazing special effects.
Stars 4 out of 5
Additional Film Information
Cast: Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, James Acaster, Ernie Hudson , Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Bill Murray.
Directed and written by: Gil Kenan
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for supernatural action/violence, language and suggestive references.
Running Time: 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Release Date: March 22, 2024.
Distributed By: Columbia Pictures
Release In: IMAX, Dolby Atmos, and Standard.
