Strap on those proton packs and chug down some Hi-C Ecto-Cooler: Ghostbusters is back and...better than ever? It depends who you ask.
The reviews are in for Melissa McCarthy, Krisen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones' comedy reboot of the 1984 original, and for the most part, the critics are impressed.
The New York Times' Manohla Dargis describes Ghostbusters as "a movie that is a lot of enjoyable, disposable fun"—and she means that in a good way. Dargis praises the film's leading ladies and gives props to "token hottie" Chris Hemsworth for "[pulling] his weight." Ultimately, Dargis finds the "redo is pretty much what you might expect from [director] Paul Feig, one of the best things to happen to American big-screen comedy since Harold Ramis."
GQ's Helen O'Hara praises the movie as "a fresh spin on the same elements as the original." She describes it as "casually feminist, unfailingly pacy and finds an exact mid-point between razor sharp and pleasingly dumb comedy."
Gizmodo's Germain Lussier writes that Ghostbusters "isn't perfect, but it's so much fun you won't care." The "incredibly funny" film boats an obviously hilarious cast, but as Lussier writes, "The only problem is that all the jokes and action don't leave much room for the story."
The Guardian's Nigel M. Smith praises the reboot as well, noting comically to "call off the trolls" calling for the movie to fail since its inception. But as Smith notes, "the mean-spirited reception to the film before anyone had seen it does not seem to have put a dampener on the movie itself" in which "Fun oozes from almost every frame."
The Chicago Sun Times' Richard Roeper didn't have the same experience with Ghostbusters. He describes the movie as "a horror from start to finish," asking, "How could so many talented, well-meaning artists, who clearly loved and respected the original, produce such a raggedy-looking, thuddingly unfunny, utterly unnecessary reboot?"
The critics' consensus seems to be that Ghostbusters has an amazingly talented cast, but not everyone sees eye-to-eye on the storyline (or lack thereof). But as Dargis writes for the New York Times, fans of the original will likely enjoy the reboot. "...it's a lot like the old Ghostbusters," she explains, "except that it stars four funny women instead of, you know, four funny men."
Ghostbusters hits theaters this Friday.