First off, take my review with this grain of salt: I love Ghostbusters. I grew up watching the first two films and I only fell deeper in love with them as an adult. I have the uniform. I have the proton pack. I have the no ghost logo tattooed on my shoulder. I don't really know what they could have made in terms of a film that continues the original world of GB and not have me love it. I have a similar love for Indiana Jones and I'll sing praises for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so that's just where I'm coming from.
Preface out of the way, I adore GB: Afterlife. This is the continuation of a once in a lifetime magical amalgamation of creative and comedic forces that has rarely happened on the level of the original GB. Afterlife is a funny and heartfelt riot of a romping adventure that sprinkles in a lot of that magical Ghostbusters seasoning into its run time. Right off the rip, the main cast of younger actors does a phenomenal job. Finn Wolfhard, Logan Kim and Celeste O'Connor all bring such great acting ability along with superb comedic timing to the movie but McKenna Grace steals. the. entire. damn. show. She is not only the central protagonist (though naturally being a GB film, ideas of "team" are always strong) but she delivers such a ridiculously excellent performance as Pheobe that she deserves any and every good thing in life, like, ever. She both channels Harold Ramis as well as creating a wonderful new character that just feels "right". Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd are great as the supporting "liable adult" characters but man do these kids absolutely shine here. Outside the cast, the direction is slick and action packed, the score features a slew of classical GB tracks that reverberate and mutate just enough to keep things fresh. The nostalgia call backs feel natural, for the most part, though there are a few here and there that feel slightly stuffed in just for the sake of "oh, that was a thing!" but I don't think the film suffers from putting everything with a GB logo on it on a pedestal at all. Plot wise, I absolutely loved it. If you do want something fresh and original in a GB film, you may be disappointed but after such a long time away from these characters I do personally feel that "revisiting" this story works well in this context.
Going in I expected to end up crying at some point during the run time and sure enough I had tears streaming down my face by the time the credits started rolling. One shot in particular absolutely ruined me and made my little fanboy heart nearly explode in joy. This is a film franchise put into such capable and loving hands that have created a film that loves and rejoices in its past yet has created the basis of a future that is so exponentially bright and great.
I'll probably post a more spoiler heavy thought later because if you don't have much insight into the film but are a fan you should go in as dark as possible, the punch will be that much more knock out worthy. I'm so glad I didn't see the final trailers, there was so much I didn't see coming that surprised me in a gleeful manner.
4.5/5 for me. Nothing will ever be able to top the magical storm that was GB84 but as far as a legacy sequel goes, this one is one damn big Twinkie of a film.