Ghostbusters Remake Wasn't Made For You...Or Was It?

ghostbusters remake movie

Paul Feig has released the Ghostbusters trailer and, to no real surprise, it's getting trashed. Now is this a warranted response or are fanboys of the original two just bashing the movie because this is "ruining their childhood"?

I have managed to not write about the Ghostbusters movie until now because A) I'm not going to hype up or trash a franchise remake without seeing a trailer and B) I would rather write about something else, not speculation pieces based on a set image. But today Feig dropped the trailer and now I feel I can determine where I stand on the final product. 

First let me explain that this remake is not geared towards fans of the film franchise, but it is geared more towards the fans of the cartoon series and a very younger audience in general. Usually this would be a deal breaker but, in some weird way, this is kinda their 'IN'.

 I was and still am a fan of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series. It was a great show that followed everyone's favorite ghost catchers on their daily escapades and heavily featured Slimer as their in-house ghost/mascot. If you were a kid during this period of time then you know how awesome the series was and if you weren't, just check out the shows intro...

Cut to a few years later and I have two boys who enjoy both movies and the cartoon series. So, as any dad would do, I used my kids as a focus group. To keep it simple I asked the following questions about the trailer:

1. Did you like the trailer? Yes or No

2. Why did or didn't you like it?

3. Do you want to go see it?

4. would you rather watch this or the original right now?

I started with the 8yr old, who likes the cartoon more than the movies, and he answered:

1. Yes

2. It had more ghosts just like the cartoon.

3. Yes, please.

4. This one because it is newer and has tons of cool ghosts.

Then I moved to the 4yr old, who likes the movies more than the cartoon, and he answered:


2. Not real Ghostbusters (Dan, Bill, ect.)

3. No

4. Ghostbusters we have....(sees other trailer) can we watch the angry bird movie?

Well, the response I got wasn't what I expected but it makes sense. After watching the trailer a few times I see what my oldest sees, a live-action adaptation of the cartoon series. It was at this point I brought in my wife and she (doesn't have a favorite) had the same responses as my oldest. More ghosts, newer stuff, looks kinda funny and so on.

The results say this: This adaptation is aimed at a much younger audience (my youngest is just an anomaly) and, to some extent, the people who enjoyed the cartoon series. So if you go in thinking of it as a Ghostbusters remake, you're not going to like it.  But if you look at it as a adaptation of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series then you might enjoy the flick.

Now, me personally, I find it okay, I don't hate it but I'm not in love with it. I like how it has the tone and feel of the cartoon and the cast is comprised of three of the funniest girls from SNL, but I would have liked to see a true third Ghostbusters film. Even with the passing of Ramis it could have worked as a passing of the torch movie, but now that ship has sailed. So will this be a great entry into the franchise? Probably not, but it looks like it will be an acceptable one. And really it doesn't matter what I or you think because our generation had its time, now it's another generation's turn.

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