Posted by Leah Singerman
When Ghostbusters II came out in 1989, it had a great opening weekend. But after that (just like in the lives of the characters between movies 1 and 2) the initial excitement faded and people started hatin' on the movie real hard. GII gets some flack for not trying anything new, and even Bill Murray was famously unimpressed. That's pretty sad.
But you know what? Haters gonna hate. Potaters gonna potate, and ghostbusters gonna ghostbust. Yeah, I just did that joke. And it was amazing. Point is, I think Ghostbusters II gets given way too hard of a time, when in fact it was awesome in a lot of ways. So, in no particular order, I present the five biggest reasons why Ghostbusters II was actually a great movie.
It kept what we loved about the characters.
I don't know about you guys, but one of my favorite things about the ghostbusters is that they're unashamed of who they are, and they don't care if other people think they're crazy. That's why it's so fun and it makes us so happy whenever they're in the Ecto-1, speeding down the streets of New York in all their ghostbusting glory. And I totally loved when that craziness happened again in the sequel. In fact, it was almost even more rewarding because of how excited we were that they were back in the business. I have no problem with sequences that throw back to the original if they're about things we loved. It's just like a little inside joke between the makers and us. They're like, hey, we know you loved it the first time, so please have some more. It's on us. What's wrong with that?
Venkman didn't have the girl.
How easy would it have been for that kiss at the end of the original Ghostbusters to lead to a little something more, and then a little more, and so on and so forth, so that when we see little Oscar in the beginning of GII he's actually Peter's kid? I know they wanted us to think that's what had happened in the beginning of the movie, which is why they waited so long to tell us that he wasn't, but let's not write this off. Let's give them some props for keeping things interesting by making Peter chase after Dana all over again. They could have pulled a Back to the Future II and let the main character marry his girlfriend, and then have the new story centered around their family. But no! GII decided to do something different, and I appreciate that. (No offense, BTTFII, you do you.)
The acutal plot was different.
Yes, in the perfect world sequels always have different plots than originals. But we all know how often sequels get screwed over because the plot just totally ruins everything we loved about the original (Grease 2, anybody? No, just me? Okay.) The cool thing about the plot of Ghostbusters II is that it does have some similarities to the original- a dead entity wants to take human form- but the stories behind the two are different, and they really want two different things. It's perfect that the villain this time wants a child, because it fits in so nicely with the Dana-Oscar story, which in turn fits in really nicely with the Dana-Peter story. So, good on that. Plus, who doesn't love the addition of Dr. Janosz Poha?
It was just plain funny.
Say what you will, but I laughed out loud in this movie. Yes, the circumstances were different, but these actors were still hilarious and they still worked so well together. Not only are there a bunch of great one-liners ("There's always room for jell-o!" "I have all new cheap moves now."), but there are also just a bunch of straight up funny moments that are part of the story. The dancing toaster? Gets me every time. And the song choice- Higher and Higher by Gary Jackson- is just so lovable and really funny when you think about the faith they had in what that song could do.
Louis Tully.
...Is hilarious, and I will proton pack you in the face if you say he's not. (Okay, sorry, that was a little intense. I just love Louis Tully.) His lawyering skills. His ghostbusting skills. His romance with Janine. That's all I have to say about that.
So, there you have it, the five biggest reasons why Ghostbusters II is actually a fantastic piece of film and art. Let's hope Ghostbusters 3 is even better.
What do you think of Ghostbusters II? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @DweebCast.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC, its affiliates, or its employees.
