After hearing about the unfortunate passing of Mr. Harold Ramis, I decided to take a look back at one of the movies that he was best known for... and then a couple days later, I saw the sequel. No disrespect to the man's writing, but by God was it not on par with the original.
It has its moments, though. Rick Moranis did a decent job reprising his role, the scene with the Statue of Liberty was both visually impressive and a bit of a heart warmer, and as "puppety" as he looked in this film, it was good to see Slimer again.
But when this film was bad, it was PHENOMINALY bad. The soundtrack is kind of to blame, in my opinion. The Sinicized tones sound like a 1980's horror film if anything. Scenes like the slime in the bathtub and the baby being kidnapped work with it since they're trying to give off a scary vibe, but when it tries to attempt something more lighthearted, it doesn't even BEGIN to level it out. The first movie managed to take the climax with the final confrontation of Gozer and still manage to deliver some good laughs. There was nothing in the climax of this film that I could bring myself to chuckle to, mostly because it involved a small infant dangling on the wall between life and death with a satanic looking Shakespeare trying to possess his body. I'm sorry, but WHERE in a scene involving THIS would I be inclined to be humored?
If this was how unfunny a sequel in this franchise was back then, I CRINGE to think what would have happened if 3 lived to see the light of day in THIS generation.
Oh, and the remix of Ray Parker Jr. song was terrible and forced. Just thought I'd make that clear.
R.I.P. Harold Ramis November 12th, 1944 - February 24, 2014
It has its moments, though. Rick Moranis did a decent job reprising his role, the scene with the Statue of Liberty was both visually impressive and a bit of a heart warmer, and as "puppety" as he looked in this film, it was good to see Slimer again.
But when this film was bad, it was PHENOMINALY bad. The soundtrack is kind of to blame, in my opinion. The Sinicized tones sound like a 1980's horror film if anything. Scenes like the slime in the bathtub and the baby being kidnapped work with it since they're trying to give off a scary vibe, but when it tries to attempt something more lighthearted, it doesn't even BEGIN to level it out. The first movie managed to take the climax with the final confrontation of Gozer and still manage to deliver some good laughs. There was nothing in the climax of this film that I could bring myself to chuckle to, mostly because it involved a small infant dangling on the wall between life and death with a satanic looking Shakespeare trying to possess his body. I'm sorry, but WHERE in a scene involving THIS would I be inclined to be humored?
If this was how unfunny a sequel in this franchise was back then, I CRINGE to think what would have happened if 3 lived to see the light of day in THIS generation.
Oh, and the remix of Ray Parker Jr. song was terrible and forced. Just thought I'd make that clear.
R.I.P. Harold Ramis November 12th, 1944 - February 24, 2014