In Writer and Director Jason Reitman’s Ghostbuster: Afterlife, 12-year-old science prodigy Phoebe, played by amazing Mckenna Grace, prepares for her new school in Summerville, Oklahoma. She practices one of her jokes, “Why can’t you trust atoms? They make up everything.” Inspired quirk distinguishes Ghostbuster: Afterlife, which is not really a sequel to the original Ghostbuster (1984). Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan’s screenplay is a reinvention that bestows new life to the Ghostbusters legacy. Afterlife is also a tribute with Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, and Ernie Johnson brilliantly reprising their iconic characters of Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore.
The late Harold Ramis, who played inventor genius Egon Spengler, passed away in 2014. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is an homage to Harold as Egon, who’s embedded in the story’s soul. Harold’s CGI rendering endears and touches. In Jason and Gil’s invented narrative, Egon was Phoebe’s Grandfather. His estranged daughter Callie, played by strong, whimsical Carrie Coon, is Phoebe’s exasperated Mom. Phoebe’s older brother Trevor is played by charming, vulnerable Finn Wolfhard. 15-year-old Trevor is the expert gearhead, who fixes cars. He has a mad crush on smart, pretty, 17-year-old Lucky, played by Celeste O’Conner. Lucky works at the local drive-in in Summerville.
As Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens, Egon captures a deadly ghost in his designed Ghostbusters trap. However, he perishes at the hands of the omnipotent spirit Gozer the Gozerian, who seeks to reign havoc upon the world. Olivia Wilde is beautiful and dangerous as Gozer’s human persona. Egon was known in Summerville as the eccentric lunatic recluse, who prophesied the End of the World.
In his demise, Callie inherits Ego’s dilapidated home. Fallen upon hard times and eviction, Callie hauls her kids to their new life in Summerville, unbeknownst to Phoebe and Trevor.
At her new school, Phoebe makes a new friend, perhaps her only friend, in Podcast, played by animated quick-talking Logan Kim. His name derives from his podcast on the unexplained and supernatural. Designated synchronicity? The podcast is a fanboy of the Old School Ghostbuster in New York in the 1980s. On the Internet, Podcast and Phoebe discover the origins of the Ghostbusters and Egon Spengler’s connection. As the cognizant scientist, albeit 12-years-old, Phoebe deduces what makes her who she is. After all, Ego was her grandfather.
Callie despises her Father Egon for abandoning her when she was a young child to pursue his clandestine calling in Summerville. She had no mad love and respect for Dad. Phoebe defends her grandfather saying, “He wasn’t nuts.” Callie replies, “No, he was an asshole! Welcome to the family!” Yes, Ego was flawed. Yes, he was also human.
As the epicenter of the Spirit Universe, Summerville experiences violent earthquakes in the supernatural aftermath. Paul Rudd plays hysterically curious Gary Gruberson, who is Phoebe’s slacker summer school teacher. Genius Phoebe outs Gruberson as the seismology researching Summerville. Like Podcast, Gary is a huge Ghostbusters fanboy. Like Phoebe, Gary believes the violent tremors in Summerville are not simply earthquakes.
Jason Reitman patiently and methodically threads context in the first hour of Afterlife with warmth and humor. Once Phoebe refurbishes Egon’s Proton Pack used to capture ghosts and Trevor tricks out the Ghostbusters Mobile, it’s on full throttle.
The real star of Ghostbusters: Afterlife is Mckenna Grace. On the surface, Mckenna’s Phoebe is the loner internalized nerd. Yet, her Phoebe is the possibility of way more. Mckenna embodies the child’s wonder in her eyes with a profound strength of resolve. Whether wielding her Proton Pack dispatching killer ghosts or challenging Old School Ghostbuster Ray Stantz, her Phoebe true to herself.
On Phoebe’s first day at her new school, her Mom Callie facetiously says, “Don’t be yourself.” WTF? Mckenna transforms Phoebe into the Hero, her authentic self. People will love her for who she is. Period. Something that Mom could learn from her in her unforgiving dismissal of her Dad. Just saying.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife reinvents new life in the Old School Ghostbusters. In Afterlife, it’s not really about the ghosts, rather about the profound strength and spirit within all of us. Mckenna Grace’s Phoebe reminds of our power within. Staying true to oneself gives new life in the Afterlife. In the end, Ghostbusters: Afterlife makes you smile inside and out. Just saying.
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This post is republished on Agents of Change on Medium.
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Photo credit: Shutterstock, modified