Ghostbusters has been, since I was a wee lad, a favorite movie of mine. It would be hard for me to review the flick objectively because of my deep seated love of it going back to my younger years. I loved the cartoon, played Ghostbusters on the playground, had all the toys and my favorite was always Egon for some reason. Maybe because of that cornucopia looking hairdo he rocked in the cartoon. The great thing about this movie is that the reasons I loved it when I was little are different than the reasons I love it now. Back then, I loved it due to the massive scale, cool ghosts and the idea that one could entrap them. Also it had a giant Marshmallow man. Nowadays, it's the humor that I didn't catch then, the great performances of the leads and the blue-collar idea of equating busting ghosts with that of being a fireman. Also it has a giant Marshmallow Man. It's a big comedy that puts all of these elements that I loved as a kid and as an adult and fuses them so seamlessly that makes it work as well as it does for as many people as it does. I can't think of another high concept comedy off the top of my head the blends everything together so magically. The special effects work very well for the time period and don't age as badly as you might think, but the movie doesn't work because of those effects. Mainly it's the cast riffing on a terrific script and idea that's so absurd, they can make it seem a normal everyday thing. Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson ground this thing and make it relatable to anybody who's just doing their job. Their job just happens to be catching ghosts.
The blu-ray at first glance doesn't seem like it offers much, but after a quick look you'll find that its full of goodies. It still has the commentary from the original DVD release that's very good, though now it no longer has the MST3K effect of their shadows watching the movie, but I can live with that. You'll find a lot of fun docs, like the restoration of the Ecto-1 and an 1984 produced behind the scenes look. There's a lot here about the making of the video game that I found interesting, as it reunites the cast and writers, even if it really has nothing to do with the actual movie. Also available is the "Slimer Mode", which allows you to watch the movie with a trivia track and picture in picture interviews at pertinent moments of the movie. It's very cool and informative.
Picture quality is great. Yes, there is some grain to be had, but that seems to be how the movie was originally shot, so I'm not gonna complain about it. The fact is, the movie is about as crisp and clear as it's ever been and it's the kind of movie you would definitely want to upgrade from the original DVD release to the blu-ray.
This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and the blu-ray version is, barring a chance to see it in theaters, is the only way I would want to watch it from now on. I'm very happy with it and it's a great price to boot.
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