{"id":6638,"date":"2024-10-23T13:38:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6638"},"modified":"2024-10-23T13:38:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:38:20","slug":"ghostbusters-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/23\/ghostbusters-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghostbusters II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ghostbusters II<\/strong> (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, mild action, violent images, scary images, some sensuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ivan Reitman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Randy Edelman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Chapman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 16, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Peter MacNicol, Harris Yulin, Janet Margolin, David Margulies, Kurt Fuller, Wilhelm von Homburg, William T. Deutschendorf, Hank J. Deutschendorf, Cheech Marin, Brian Doyle-Murray, Ben Stein.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $112.4M (US)\/$215.3M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Remember in my review of the first Ghostbusters when I said that they don\u2019t make \u2018em like that anymore? Ghostbusters II<\/strong> proves my statement is true. It\u2019s a huge letdown after the total perfection that was the original movie. And it\u2019s not like it doesn\u2019t have all its original parts. It does.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The whole cast returns as do director Ivan Reitman (Stripes) and co-scribes Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It just feels perfunctory and stale. While the special effects are still top-notch, the jokes aren\u2019t as funny and the actors appear to be operating on autopilot. Even Bill Murray\u2019s performance feels programmed rather than inspired. Such is the fate of many a comedy sequel. The joke is rarely funny in its second telling. Ghostbusters II<\/strong> has its moments and the storyline isn\u2019t too bad, but it lacks the magic and momentum of the 1984 original.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Set five years after the events of the original, the Ghostbusters are no more having been banned from any form of paranormal investigation following all the property damage they caused while saving New York from that evil demi-god. Peter Venkman (Murray) hosts a pseudo-psychic cable show. Egon Spengler (Ramis, Stripes) works in a lab at Columbia University. Ray Stantz (Aykroyd, The Blues Brothers) owns an occult bookstore and entertains at children\u2019s parties with former co-worker Winston Zeddemore (Hudson, The Crow).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Venkman\u2019s former girlfriend Dana Barrett (Weaver, Aliens), now the divorced mother of an infant son, asks the guys for their help after a supernatural incident involving her son. It involves a river of pink slime flowing beneath First Avenue and an ominous-looking painting of an evil 16th<\/sup> century figure. An incident in a courtroom results in the Ghostbusters being allowed to resume their paranormal extermination business.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What is it about Dana that attracts the unwanted attentions of so many weirdos? In the first movie, it was Louis (Moranis, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids), the annoyingly persistent wimp who lived across the hall. This time, it\u2019s Dr. Janosz Poha (MacNicol, Dragonslayer), an annoying colleague with an unidentifiable European accent. The difference is the comically gifted Moranis made the character funny. MacNicol\u2019s character is just creepy. Whereas Louis made me laugh, Janusz makes my skin crawl. It gives the supernatural comedy something of a sour taste.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Something about Ghostbusters II<\/strong> has always bothered me and it\u2019s this. What happened to the romance between Egon and the receptionist Janine (Potts, Pretty in Pink)? Not only is it never addressed, it appears to have been forgotten about by everybody altogether. This time, she hooks up with Louis who\u2019s still hanging around for some reason.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cast still has chemistry, but it feels kind of flat in the sequel. It doesn\u2019t have the same sparkle and effervescence as the original. The plot, while interesting, is a bit more convoluted as well. It comes together, but it\u2019s a reach. The soundtrack is fairly lame and instantly forgettable. The dialogue isn\u2019t as quotable this time around either.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ghostbusters II<\/strong> falls short of the original on virtually every level, but I wouldn\u2019t call it a bad movie. Murray gets off some funny lines and the effects are quite good. But there\u2019s no getting around that it\u2019s a pale imitation of its predecessor. Let me describe it like this. The first movie was obviously a labor of love. You can see and feel that all involved put their hearts in it. This time, it\u2019s more labor than love. It\u2019s mildly entertaining, but nothing special.\"\"<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ghostbusters II (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, mild action, violent images, scary images, some sensuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ivan Reitman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Randy Edelman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Chapman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 16, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Peter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Ghostbusters-II-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6638"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6921,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6638\/revisions\/6921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}