Ghostbusters II

This was another sequel that was fashionable to knock when it came out. It got panned because it couldn't live up to the first Ghostbusters. Well, what could? The first one was so original, so enormously popular than any sequel was bound to fail as far as matching it.

This second Ghostbusters was just fine, very entertaining and it was nice to see all the main characters back. It had a little nicer feel to it and was more family-friendly language-wise, so it even had some things going for it the first one didn't have.

The other major different in this sequel was watching Peter MacNichol, who reprized his "Renfield"-type character from Mel Brooks' "Dead: And Loving It" comedy with Leslie Nielsen. Here, MacNichol plays "Janosz Poha," an...

Who you gonna snore?

Ghostbusters II Is directed by Ivan Reitman and stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis & Ernie Hudson. Ramis & Aykroyd c-wrote the screenplay and it's a sequel to the hugely successful Ghostbusters from 1984. Plot follows on from the first film but five years later and sees the Ghostbusters disbanded after being derided as frauds and handed a bill for the damages incurred as they saved the world! However, a new supernatural threat is bubbling down in the sewers of New York and now more than ever the Ghostbusters are back in vogue.

It was probably asking too much for this sequel to be as sparkling as the first film. More so when one considers that there was a 5 year gap in betw...

'They're back!'

I watched this straight after the first one. It was just as good as the first film. I enjoyed it.

I can't say that I really loved the first film and this didn't really advance that view much. It was clearly just made to capitalise on that huge success without anyone really bothering to develop the characters or build much of a story. Indeed - all it really does is introduce a baby (aww) and swap the baddies - this time we have the slightly camp Carpathian "Vigo" (the splendidly named Wilhelm von Homburg) - whom our established quartet must defeat to save the world from oblivion (and the poor soundtrack). The visual effects are adequate, but the rest of it is just a rather pale and unremarkable rehash of the 1984 effort with similar humour and scenarios that are predictably slap-stick and dull. Sigourney Weaver pops up now and again but ...

"Ghostbusters II" easily recreates the spirit (if you'll pardon the pun) of the original and it is very engaging and entertaining viewing throughout, especially for a sequel where money is usually the only primary motivating factor. Of course, this is probably the case here as well, but at least there is a concerted effort by screenwriters Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd to refresh the range of cliches on offer that made the previous film so much fun and phenomenally popular back in 1984. However, even though the crowds of people are still gathered on the sidewalks of New York to enthusiastically cheer our eccentric heroes on to success and there are plenty of outrageous and bombastic ideas to keep the whole crazy enterprise afloat none of it ...