), and preteen daughter Phoebe as they move to the small, dying mining town of Summerville, Okla. Callie’s father, who abandoned the family in her youth, recently passed away and left her the failing farm where he spent the second half of his life. Everyone in town called the man the “Dirt Farmer,” and he was as much a mystery to them as he was to Callie.
For the super-smart, super-sardonic Phoebe, who has always been on the receiving end of contrasting advice from Callie and Trevor about whether she should really be herself, the dirt farm is full of mysteries.
But what derails the energy of these sequences is that “Afterlife” is reliant on Phoebe and Gary, who the film initially presents as intelligent people, making the absolute dumbest, most nonsensical decisions to move the film’s plot along. And even then, the script still links scenes together with leading dialogue like “What do you mean?” and “What is happening here?,” unfurling unneeded exposition that grinds forward momentum to a stop.
Most everyone here is going very, very broad, from Wolfhard’s and Kim’s slapsticky deliveries to Grace’s persistent scowl and frown. It’s impossible to root for or sympathize with anyone, given how underwritten they are and how their only functions are to slot into pre-existing character dynamics left over from previous “Ghostbusters” films.
Everything is in service of Easter eggs or recycled elements, from a return of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to the refashioning of the chunky, hungry Slimer into this film’s chunky, hungry Muncher, to — of course — someone asking, “Who you gonna call?” There is no identity to “Afterlife” past those nods backward, and no looks ahead.
It'll never live up to the original and that's okay. As long as it's fun to watch and gives respect to its roots it's going to do just fine.
Fails to reanimate fun of the original
I'm going Saturday, and am excited as hell for it. I know it's not going to be like the first two films, or even the Real Ghostbusters animated series, but guess what? I don't care. I just want to see where this is going to go.
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