I can’t believe they’re still making these. I caught this on a plane and honestly that’s the only way I’d ever watch it. Afterlife was exactly what it says on the tin: reanimating the corpse of a dead franchise and convincing you its warmed over thrills are worth seeing.
I’d do some light praise before I get mean. Kumail Nanjiani is charismatic as always and read many of the lines that made me actually laugh. The supernatural teen romance plot is kinda cute, helped by a good performance by a new actress. The new villain is decent and has zero connection to previous villains.
Now for the bad stuff. There’s a conversation between Winston and Ray where Winston points out that they should “live out their golden years”. Ray points out that he likes ghostbusting. This feels like winking at the audience, but it just makes it just that much clearer how navel gaze-y this is.
Other navel gazing includes: mini stay-puft marshmallow guys, returning to the original fire station, for some reason Bill Murray is back, Walter Peck is back and now the mayor, Slimer is back, the library ghost has her same moment but out of place.
I honestly don’t know why they decided to make this movie given that the last one was only barley profitable. Luckily it seems Frozen Empire was not, so I’m hoping this is the end.