When I say "for kids," I don't mean a Casper-ish childlike romp / fantasy story. I might not have minded that so much. It was closer to being the original Ghostbusters, ground down and repurposed to capitalize on the nostalgia to lure parents in to taking their kids, but catered to kids, themselves.
It didn't have the pure fun, the comedy, or the lightheartedness of a true "kid flick," the likes of which adults might have enjoyed along with their brood. Rather, it had a lot of "young people" archetypes, including the oddly-oblivious single mom, the brooding, moody teenage boy, and the obligatory gender-neutral central figure.
The kids were in the central roles of this story, which made it seem that much more unrealistic for adults. Yes, I know - it's Ghostbusters, it's not supposed to be "realistic." But that doesn't mean just tossing away random bits of sensibility for that sake. If you want the kids to pick up strange pieces of esoteric equipment and have them wield them like experts - there needs to be a point, even if that is one of farce or satire. This film just didn't have it.
As a lover of the original, I felt it was just a cash-grab using sentiment for the original to lure in my generation. Sure, there were a couple moments of worthy sentiment, but they were merely gratuitous, too few, too late, to save the movie as a whole.
Not the worst movie I've seen, especially for a remake, but it's far from great. I wanted better.
It didn't have the pure fun, the comedy, or the lightheartedness of a true "kid flick," the likes of which adults might have enjoyed along with their brood. Rather, it had a lot of "young people" archetypes, including the oddly-oblivious single mom, the brooding, moody teenage boy, and the obligatory gender-neutral central figure.
The kids were in the central roles of this story, which made it seem that much more unrealistic for adults. Yes, I know - it's Ghostbusters, it's not supposed to be "realistic." But that doesn't mean just tossing away random bits of sensibility for that sake. If you want the kids to pick up strange pieces of esoteric equipment and have them wield them like experts - there needs to be a point, even if that is one of farce or satire. This film just didn't have it.
As a lover of the original, I felt it was just a cash-grab using sentiment for the original to lure in my generation. Sure, there were a couple moments of worthy sentiment, but they were merely gratuitous, too few, too late, to save the movie as a whole.
Not the worst movie I've seen, especially for a remake, but it's far from great. I wanted better.