Who’ya gonna call?

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it
Logo used by the "Ghostbusters" in t...
Logo used by the “Ghostbusters” in the film (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“When there’s something strange, in the neighborhood,” sang out Kiddo at the dinner table. “Who’ya gonna call?”

“Ghostbusters!” his brother shouted.

I looked at my youngest child. “How does he know that song?” I wondered aloud.

“We were playing Ghostbusters at Nana’s.” Kiddo replied before launching back into the song’s refrain. “You know Nana’s house has ghosts,” he added once the song ended.

“Is that so?’

“Yep. We heard strange sounds in the attic last time we played up there.”

Kiddo has been hearing strange sounds everywhere recently, a victim of his overactive combined with perhaps not my finest parenting choice. Over the weekend Lamont and I took Kiddo (and only Kiddo) to see the updated release, so controversially featuring female leads (oh, the horror!) I say perhaps because apparently the casting choice wasn’t supposed to be the most worrisome part of the movie – there were ghosts in it too.

When I originally heard they were remaking Ghostbusters, I thought it was simply more evidence that Hollywood in general, had run out of either a) original ideas or b) courage to risk producing them. When I read that the casting choice, I rolled my eyes. It was nothing personal against the actresses themselves, I find them multi-talented as well as funny. It just felt gimmicky in this case, as if Ghostbusters name wouldn’t be a draw enough. I had no intention of rushing out to buy tickets to see it in the theater. Waiting for the DVD would do.

Then, LT was invited to go and play elsewhere leaving Kiddo alone with Lamont and myself on a dangerously hot and sticky afternoon. Let me pause to say that I have a newly reinforced respect for parents of only children. Therefore as the day progressed and Kiddo mentioned that he was actually interested in seeing a movie that didn’t feature talking animals or thirty-year-olds pretending to be teenagers fighting costumed monsters, I found myself suddenly a lot more open-minded.

This is not a movie review site, but for what it is worth, I enjoyed the show. While it could be considered a remake of sorts of the first Ghostbusters due to similarities in the high-level plot, there were plenty of differences (even excluding gender reversals) for the movie to stand on its own. I will warn you that the opening scenes are fairly intense, especially for younger viewers. If you have some of the smaller set in tow, you may wish to linger by the concession stand a while longer. That is unless you really don’t care about enforcing bedtimes or enjoy engaging in conversations about alternate realms of existence.

Back to dinner.

“Now remember Kiddo, the movie was one hundred percent fiction. We talked about this.” And we had. At length. Both before the movie started and after the closing credits. We talked about it again that first night when Kiddo begged me to stand in the doorway after lights out. And then again when he thought he heard a knocking sound (which was just the TV downstairs), and again when he wondered what the dog was barking at (Lamont hadn’t given Her Royal Highness her evening treat fast enough). I’d known before I bought the tickets that the evening would be rougher than most, but, just like the movie, Kiddo’s performance well exceeded my expectations.

“I know mom.”

“And none of the ghosts were real. Someone made them up with a computer.” I’ve been teaching my son how to layer photos and stitch videos together. Could I turn this into a teaching moment?

“I knnnnoooowww.” (cue eye roll)

“Okay. Just making sure.” That’s a no.

“I got it, mom.”

Yeah, I thought, until bedtime. Even though we had the discussion about what is real and what is not and what goes on behind the scenes, the movie had achieved what all movie makers hope to achieve – the magic of suspended belief. As far as Kiddo is concerned the actresses who played the characters in this version are Ghostbusters and not just some feminine stand-ins for a thirty-two-year-old classic.

And this makes me happy (okay a little old too, but mostly happy).

Did you know that the movie makers actually tried to make the story true to science? Well, as much as any paranormal horror/comedy can be. And when they used words in the script like quantum and superfields, they weren’t just making up them to sound smart like the term, unobtainium, found in some other scripts, or using the terms in the wrong context. The filmmakers actually bothered to pick up the phone and called MIT physicists. Female MIT physicists.

Yep. It’s good to know that my boys are growing up in a time when women in science aren’t the ghosts they once were. Maybe, in thirty years time (or less) when Hollywood decides it is time to remake the movie, again, a casting choice like this won’t seem nearly as gimmicky, and a whole less controversial.

Because in the words of LT, “I no ‘fraid of no ghosts.”

 

48 thoughts on “Who’ya gonna call?”

  1. Has it really been 32 years? Wow. I haven’t even seen a trailer for this movie. I guess I should look for one. And I hear ya about the parents with only children. Hard pass on that one.

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    1. I really didn’t give it enough credit when I heard about it. Kate McKinnon’s character particularly cracked me up.

      Oh, and try not to dwell on the 32 years part. I know I am actively trying to forget as I write this.

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      2. 🙂 It is not milk out your nose funny, but it is still ha ha funny without sacrificing either developing characters or story. Not an easy feat in a 1hr 47min run time.

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  2. I haven’t seen the new version of Ghostbuster but I remember when the first one came out – it blew our minds – so different and bizarre and hilarious. Definitely wasn’t frightening.

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    1. I vividly remember the opening scene with the ghost librarian. Scared me quite a bit at the time, but really came back to ‘haunt’ me when I was working in my university’s library and was tasked with going down to the school’s archives. Creepy place that was.

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      1. I have to admit – Zul in the refrigerator was frightening. Good for a diet though as it took me awhile to get up the courage to get ice cream out of the freezer.

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  3. 32 years? I can’t believe it. I refuse to believe it *puts head in sand*

    *emerges* I’m very keen to see this version, I loved the original, even tho’ I was but a babe in arms (I was a teenager). Glad to hear it lived up to expectations, and yay for all the awesome women, too 🙂 I have a daughter, and I always tell her she can be whatever she wants to be.

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    1. It exceeded expectations, but I will caution my expectations were fairly low going in as I did very much enjoy the original two (which I saw on TV, VHS, or DVD as I am clearly not old enough to have seen either in the theater 🙂 ) and was concerned about how anyone would handle a retelling.

      And yes she can – although I would be of mixed feelings about my child wanting to pursue paranormal investigation as their main source of income.

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      1. Well, it would probably pay slightly more than being a doctor for mermaids and mermen, which is what she wanted to be when she was younger ;-D

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      2. I don’t know… considering the rarity of the profession, she’d be able to charge pretty much whatever she wanted. At least she could in America. I suspect the UK mer-plans might be different. 🙂

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  4. ah well maybe I should go; I loved the original and if this has a laugh or two that’s not to be sniffed at. Milk out of the nose? Have you guys given up on words like guffaw and giggle and snort and chortle and invented a new laughter scale? I hope you’ll post it for us!!

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    1. Guffaw has always stuck me a more masculine type of laugh. I hear the word and I visualize a somewhat overweight and possibly balding man slapping another on the back while they share a really amusing joke. Milk out the nose is much more situational and implies something is funny, but more importantly, unexpected. Pondering this thing you’ve asked me to ponder, I am thinking the various types of laughter would fit better on something like a color wheel than a sliding scale.

      hmmmm… *filing this away for a day I need a writing prompt*

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  5. Nothing like ghosts to perk my interest in things! I’d like to see this re-make, but will wait until I can get it on Netflix. Like you I wondered why Hollywood studios couldn’t come up with something new, but so many reviewers have suggested that this movie is different enough to make it worth seeing. Happy to know more about movie thanks to you.

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  6. Hubbie and I have been on an 80s kick lately: Back to the Future, Trading Places, Lost Boys, St. Elmo’s Fire, and…Ghostbusters. Yup, I remember watching those and, yup, I’m feeling old. Haven’t seen the new one yet but not sure I’d bring my kids. You’re daring. And bedtime sounds super fun now. 😀

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    1. The Lost Boys was awesomely terrifying. Rumor has it they are remaking Goonies (or at least a sequel) and Gremlins which is just wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

      My parents made the mistake of taking my sister to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom back in the day. According to the family story, my sister managed to sneak out of her seat at some point, make her way up to the front of the theater and announce to all that “Parents should not take young children to this movie,” so I was simply keeping to the family tradition. At least Kiddo stayed in his seat and only felt compelled to cover his eyes a few times.

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      1. Remake of Goonies?! *gasp* That IS wrong. So very wrong. Gremlins… Meh. That might be interesting to see with all the changes in technology. Just don’t mess with The Breakfast Club.

        Indiana Jones. Huh. That theater trip sounds fun. It’s weird how our parents didn’t have the same concerns we have now. I cringe to think what I was watching as a child. Ah, good times.

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      2. I hate to tell you, but a remake of The Breakfast Club was also being considered, although it appears the project lost internal support at this time. Thank goodness for that.

        Doesn’t that theater trip sound awesome? I have to side with my sister, I really have no idea what our parents were thinking about that one. It has Doom right there in the title. My dad just shrugs when we talk about it.

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  7. So wonderful to watch the kids grow up while still able to enjoy the cuteness. We don’t have a theater near us, so we wait for pay-per-view. I wasn’t sure about this movie, but I’m sure we’ll rent it (after all, my husband is 10). Thanks for the review 🙂

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  8. Hmmmm….I didn’t think there was a ghost of a chance that I’d ever see this one; it would HAVE to pale in comparison to the original, right? Well, you may have changed my mind. Wonder if there’s a matinee this afternoon? Hmmmm… 🙂

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  10. When our son was very young (3 ish) he was sure he saw a ghost/monster in his room. So, my husband explained to him that Fred lived in his closet. Fred was sorta a ghost, but very shy and sweet, and if our son was nice to Fred, he’d come out once in a while, but that if our son didn’t want Fred to show himself, he wouldn’t. Well, our son “lived” with Fred happily until he was about 10, when Fred disappeared. Guess who’s been visiting our son’s little 3-year-old, though? Yup, Fred.

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  11. Cracking post. I saw the movie this week. I feared the trailer was all the good bits. But there were enough to keep me entertained anyway.

    Everyone slated it, but actually it wasn’t as bad as I expected.

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    1. I was afraid the trailer was the best part too. I think most all the critics were determined to hate it simply because how great the original was. Kind of like how finding Dory only got so so reviews because Nemo was so awesome.

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  12. What’s wrong with talking animals? Thanks for the review – of sorts, because I was considering seeing the movie this weekend.
    Some sequels are better than others, but Finding Dory and Ice Age 3 (I think) aren’t the ones.

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    1. I don’t mind the talking animals, but the last movies they’ve seen were Zootopia, Angry Birds, Secret Life of Pets, and Kung Fu Panda 3 (which my boys LOVED proving your point that all sequels aren’t created equal). It was simply a nice to try something different.

      I’ve lost track of which Ice Age it is. Hmm. Ice Age: Big Snow. Ice Age 2: Melt Down. Ice Age 3: Dinosaurs / Center of Earth. Ice Age 4: Pirates on icebergs. So this would be Ice Age 5: In Space.

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  13. I was every bit as dubious as you were when I heard about yet another reboot. And honestly, I still am, even though I’m hearing good things about Ghostbusters. I’m sure it’ll be a Netflix rental for me.

    I may have to comfort Tara after tucking her in, come to think of it. She’s not exactly a fan of things even remotely scary…

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  14. I haven’t seen this movie yet, and with your description of the night your Kiddo had, I’m not sure I’ll be taking mine for a while. I let my kids watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie today and all day long I got concerned questions, “did that dog really get bit?” “Then why was it bleeding?” “Is it still alive?” “Is it mean in real life?” “How do you know?” On and on and on and on. I never would have thought Little House could cause so much concern.

    Glad you had a good time at the movie and I hope you’re getting a restful vacation.

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