Baby Ghostbusters!

Did I mention that Netflix is being good about sending all of our Wait list movies? Well, they sent Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). Maybe everyone is watching these on streaming services.

Single mom Carrie Coon and her two kids, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace, are evicted from their home, but Coon's estranged father died recently. So they pack up everything and head to his farm in Nebraska. It's a rundown place that looks haunted. The folks in town refer to him as the Dirt Farmer. When Coon says she's sure the townspeople will miss him, a waitress says, "Doubt it."

Wolfhard is an awkward young teen. He sees Celeste O'Connor at the local drive-in restaurant and gets a job there to try to get close to her. The kids haze him, but O'Connor doesn't reject him completely. Grace is a little genius, possibly on the spectrum. Her mom begs her to try to fit in, make a friend. "Just don't be yourself" is her half-joking advice. Grace has some jokes for ice-breakers - "Why can't you trust atoms? Because they make up everything."

Surprisingly, she does make a friend. Logan Kim, who calls himself Podcast, interviews her for his podcast. Because she's interesting (living at the Dirt Farmer's) and he's sort of an outcast, he starts hanging out with her. Also, their science class is taught by Paul Rudd, who just shows the students horror movies on VHS while he works on his seismology experiments. As a scientist, Grace gets interested. And when he stops by the Dirt Farm, it looks like he is interested in Coon as well.

Skipping ahead, the kids find ECTO-1, the Ghostmobile, in the garage. Podcast shows them some Youtubes of old Ghostbusters commercials, and they figure it out: The Dirt Farmer was Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis, now also deceased). Soon, they find Muncher (Josh Gad) terrorizing the town and take off after him with the Ghostmobile, the Proton Packs, the gunner chair, everything. 

I have to mention a spoiler, but I don't suppose anyone will be surprised that eventually the old Ghostbusters all come back to save them. Spengler shows up as a ghost. In fact, it's pretty clear that the whole movie is really about the loss of Harold Ramis and the desire to let him live on in movies, even if it requires Ivan Reitman to wear CGI makeup.

And Mckenna Grace, with her big glasses and shock of black hair, was clearly Spengler's grand-daughter. It's even more clear in her serious scientific mind. As Spengler's avatar, she is the heart of the movie. Although Wolfhard is an appealling actor, he plays the ordinary kid, more or less. 

It's interesting how this compares to Ghostbusters (2017). This movie is probably better written and directed - with perhaps a bigger budget, but it was also less true to the original spirit. In fact, it was pretty sentimental and sappy - more of a eulogy than a sequel. But I think, oddly, that's why it worked better. It may be sappy, but it's heartfelt and sincere. Of course, it's also funny and exciting. But the whole Gozer/Zuul/Keymaster/Shandor/Munch/Marshmallow thing wasn't as as good as the stories of a single mom whose father shut her our of his life, and her two odd kids. Except maybe the Marshmallow thing - like the Stay-Pufft monster, but regular marshmallow sized. Very cute and dangerous.