I never thought this day would come! Most people have been waiting the last two years for the new “Ghostbusters,” but for nerds like me, we have been waiting our whole LIVES for this movie to come out! It was an extremely rewarding moment to see this film in theaters and it did not disappoint!

First and foremost, I thought “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” did an amazing job at creating a new movie for kids today to love, but also created something that was really special and nostalgic for original Ghostbuster fans.

The movie had its own plot which follows the life of OG Ghostbuster, Egor Spengler’s (Harold Ramis) grandkids and daughter as they unlocked the secrets behind his life. But it also tied in the storyline from the first 1984 Ghostbusters which was a cool idea.

It was a little strange basically seeing the same movie from 1984 but with a 69-year-old Dan Akyroyd. Their hearts were in the right place and it was really fun getting to see some of the crappy effects from the 80s look…less crappy.

Even in the year 2021 with the peak of technology, I don’t think all the effects looked as good as they could have…but I was kinda into it!

They brought back the demon dogs from the first movie and if you remember anything about how they looked in 1984…they were ruff  (sorry, I had to). In “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”, they looked LIGHT YEARS better but you could still tell that they were not perfect.

I think that was done completely on purpose to still give that fun, cheesy effect… but who’s to say.

Other than similar scenes, there were lots of really cute little tributes to the original movies such as a twinkie in the glove box, a crunch bar wrapper in Spengler’s suit, appearances of iconic gadgets and even mini Stay Puff Marshmallow men.

As a nerd, I really appreciated all those small things. It added an extra emotional and sentimental layer to this movie as a whole and made it feel extra special.

The casting was overall pretty good. McKenna Grace (Phoebe) absolutely blew me out of the water — this was her movie, this was her role and she owned the crap out of it! She had such great energy when it was needed but she also knew how to tug at the audience’s heartstrings when it came down to it.

Paul Rudd also put on a really cool performance. His character, Gary, had the same energy as Rick Moranis’s character, Louis, in the first two films and Rudd took that idea and ran with it. He embodied Moranis so well and that made me smile from ear to freaking ear!

The one character that I was not a huge fan of was Finn Wolfhard’s character, Trevor. I think Wolfhard is super talented and really has this cool guy look to him. But when you are playing a character named TREVOR the word cool is nowhere in your job description.

I think Trevor was just a weak character, and that isn’t Woldhard’s fault, but I just wasn’t beyond impressed with his performance as that character.

There were three characters that stole the show and they were the original three Ghostbusters — Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson).

It was one of those things where I think everyone went into this movie knowing they were going to be in it, but still, the second they showed up the theater erupted with gasps and claps!

There was an abundance of laughs throughout this movie which is always nice but there were definitely some tear-jerking moments as well. Just as the original actors made an appearance, so did the ghost of the departed fourth Ghostbuster, Spengler (Ramis). Once again, this was something we ALL knew was coming but to tell you that I didn’t hold back tears would be a flat-out lie.

Harold Ramis was a huge part in writing the Ghostbuster movies and bringing them to life and after his death in 2014, many people didn’t believe we would ever be blessed with another good Ghostbusters movie again.

In 2016 the female Ghostbusters dropped…so did fans’ hopes for that good Ghostbusters movie they had been hoping for. But finally, on November 19, 2021, we got what we were asking for and that was “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” — a movie Ramis would be proud of.

Overall, I loved this movie and thought it was an absolute gem. I loved all the small details that brought back that 1984 nostalgia but there was also still a new story being told — I would give this 4/5 stars.