Ghostbusters

No reason for a preview, so here's a fun video!

Ghostbusters

 Directed by Ivan Reitman

 

For a movie as famous and widely loved as Ghostbusters, the Murray/Aykroyd/Ramis classic from 1984, there's no reason for a review. I doubt I'm going to sway anyone's opinion on it one way or the other, but if you haven't seen it yet (what have you been doing with your life?), I'd highly suggest shutting down your computer or phone and going to get the movie right now. If there's a video store in your area still, they'll have it available. Drive there immediately. Otherwise, order the DVD or Blu-Ray and watch it as soon as it's delivered to your door. It's that good.

I watched Ghostbusters for probably the dozenth time the other night, but what made this particular viewing special is that my four year old son joined me. He recently became enamored with the title song and had been watching the music video on YouTube as often as we'd let him for about a week. He was eagerly awaiting his chance to watch the movie - we even had to mark the day on his calendar so he could count the days remaining until "Ghostbusters Day".

I warned him that he might find it boring. He's tried to watch a few live action films recently, with little to no success. He'd recently gotten into Star Wars, thanks to the Star Wars Lego games, so I tried to have him watch some of those films. Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Phantom Menace (I was sinking low at this point) could not hold his attention, though. He became uninterested after about 20-30 minutes of each, so we shut them all off early.

I told him that the movie Ghostbusters didn't have nearly the ratio of ghosts as the three minute long music video did. He assured me that wasn't a problem. He really wanted to see the movie.

So we sat down on Saturday night and popped the DVD into the player. He was instantly enthralled by the DVD menu, so I took that as a good sign. Even after that, though, I was surprised. He sat moderately still - or as still as any four year old can sit - and watched the entire thing. He loved all the moments with the ghosts and ghouls and monsters, as I knew he would, but he also liked how the Ghostbusters were similar to firemen, enjoyed the awesomeness that is Ecto 1 (that's the Ghostbuster's car, for you uninitiated heathens), and loved the music used throughout the movie.

He didn't really understand most of the jokes, but he did laugh at several different parts. Mostly, he got annoyed with me for laughing so heartily and so frequently. A few times, he even tried to cover my mouth in an attempt to silence my laughter.

As the film went on, he provided me with some wonderful quotes:

"Well, I didn't see that coming!" (after the Ghostbusters captured Slimer in the ballroom, destroying the place in the process)

"Oh dear! Oh dear!" (muttered with worry and excitement several times)

"How is he going to stay puffed if he's exploded?!" (after the Stay Puft marshmallow man was blown up in the climactic battle sequence - hey, I never promised there wouldn't be spoilers!)


After the movie ended, he demanded that we watch all the credits so he could listen to the music and dance around. This isn't uncommon, as he always wants to listen to the music over the credits of his movies, but it was still fun!

He then proceeded to ask if he could watch it again. I had to say 'no' as it was close to bedtime.

But he watched it again the next morning.