What a long, strange trip it's been to get a sequel to the iconic Ghostbusters franchise. After Ghostbusters 2 hit theaters in 1989 and was met with a less than favorable critical response, the franchise fell dormant. Every now and then talk of a third movie would pop up, but nothing would materialize. In 2009, we got the very good Ghostbusters video game and in 2016 the franchise was rebooted with a female team of busters. Yet, still there was no proper sequel to the franchise. Those days are over. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is finally coming to theaters and while it may not be the Ghostbusters movie you've been waiting for, it's most definitely the one that's needed.

The whole purpose of Afterlife, co-written and directed by Jason Reitman, son of original series director Ivan Reitman, is seemingly to hand the very concept of Ghostbusters over to the next generation, for them to make with it what they will. It introduces a group of kids in the tiny town of Summerville, Oklahoma, a place that just so happens to have a connection to Egon Spengler, one of the original Ghostbusters. Two of those kids--Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard)--have just arrived in the town and also happen to be the estranged grandchildren of Spengler, although they know nothing about his past.

Over the course of the movie, they learn about their grandfather, the Ghostbusters, and how iconic they were in the 1980s. To some watching, this might seem downright impossible. If ghosts exist and there was a team hunting them in the early-'80s that was met with great acclaim for doing so, how could teenagers in 2021 not know about it? Honestly, though, given that we are decades removed from such events, it doesn't seem too ridiculous. After all, shortly after the events of the first Ghostbusters film, Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) were failing birthday entertainers, trying to cash in on their so-called fame. Is it really hard to believe that they've all but been forgotten over 30 years later?