Ghostbusters II (1989)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers (WGA):

Dan Aykroyd (characters) and
Harold Ramis (characters) ...

Release Date:

16 June 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Be ready to believe us.

Plot:

The discovery of a massive river of ectoplasm and a resurgence of spectral activity allows the staff of Ghostbusters to revive the business.

Plot Keywords:

Ghostbuster | Ghost | Baby | Painting | Slime

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Fri. July 10	10:30 PM	AMC
Sat. July 11	3:00 PM	AMC

Cast

Bill Murray	...	Dr. Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd	...	Dr. Raymond Stantz
Sigourney Weaver	...	Dana Barrett
Harold Ramis	...	Dr. Egon Spengler
Rick Moranis	...	Louis Tully
Ernie Hudson	...	Winston Zeddemore
Annie Potts	...	Janine Melnitz
Peter MacNicol	...	Dr. Janosz Poha
Harris Yulin	...	Judge Stephen 'The Hammer' Wexler
David Margulies	...	Mayor Lenny
Kurt Fuller	...	Jack Hardemeyer
Janet Margolin	...	The Prosecutor
Wilhelm von Homburg	...	Vigo
William T. Deutschendorf	...	Baby Oscar (as Will Deutschendorf)
Henry J. Deutschendorf II	...	Baby Oscar (as Hank Deutschendorf)

Also Known As:

Ghostbusters 2 (USA) (video box title)
Ghostbusters II: River of Slime (USA) (working title)
The Last of the Ghostbusters (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:10 | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | South Korea:All | Netherlands:6 (re-release) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12/9 | Ireland:PG | Italy:T | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Columbia University - Broadway & 116th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The original VHS issue of this movie (and Karate Kid III) were in Letterbox, causing complaints to video stores prompting them to call RCA/Columbia to find out if there was a problem in the printing.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After the Ghostbusters smash the glass and metal dome on the roof of the museum, the entire dome was totally destroyed, but later on, when Vigo looks up at the ceiling, half of the dome is intact.

Quotes:

[Egon and Ray are showing Peter and Winston their breakthrough with a slime specimen]
Egon: Go ahead, Ray!
Ray: [shouting at the slime] You! You worthless piece of slime! You ignorant disgusting blob!
[slime twitches]
Egon: You're nothing but an unstable short-chained molecule!
Ray: You foul obnoxious muck!
[bubbles dangerously with every insult]
Egon: You have a weak electrochemical bond!
[starts to bubble over]
Ray: I have seen some disgusting crud in my time, but you take the cake!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psych: Who Ya Gonna Call? (#1.7)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Higher And Higher

They are still fun.

Good thing about this sequel is that basically all the actors from the first movie also reappear in this one. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson but also actors that portrayed some smaller parts in the first movie; Rick Moranis, Annie Potts and David Margulies. They are all back and they all still have the same chemistry they shared in the first movie.

Strenght of the movie is that it has a very high fun level. Mainly the scene's with the three Ghostbusters Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis are extremely fun to watch but also the Rick Moranis scene's are highly fun, also thanks to the dialog he had been given.

But no, it's not the perfect sequel. The movie and its story take itself a bit too serious at times, especially towards the ending. The movie is also a bit too much horror like. The movie gets quite scary at times, also due to the seriousness in the movie. A movie like this one should be mainly fun to watch and shouldn't pretend to be more than that. The movie also lacks a great spectacular finale. Vigo is a cool looking villain and this perhaps is a bit underused in the movie, he doesn't really get an awful lot to do in the movie.

But sure, compared to the first movie, also improvements have been made. The special effects look far better and also the dialog has become even more better and fun.

Best performances of the movie are given by once more; Bill Murray, Rick Moranis and Peter MacNicol in a fun 'villain' role.

It's not the perfect sequel but that doesn't take away that this is a good and certainly fun movie to watch. You'll be entertained and will have a good time watching this.

7/10