When a book about the potential existence of ghosts, that she wrote many years ago with her then friend, threatens to ruin her teaching position at Columbia University Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) visits her old friend Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) to get the book taken out of the public eye but when this visit coincides with a potential ghost appearance which Wiig reluctantly agrees to tag along with, that turns out to be very real. Erin and Abby, along with Abby’s new partner Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) discover something far more disturbing so despite the scorn from the general public they along with MTA subway worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) must save the city from the lunatic Rowan North (Neil Casey) who has found a way to open the portal between this world and the afterlife and is eagerly awaiting to bring about the apocalypse.

McCarthy is amusing as ever but, once again, plays to type when it would have been nice to see her change it up a little with the scope the movie gave. Wiig was good but always had to live up to playing the Billy Murray character of the group and regardless of who you are that’s a big ask but her constant fawning over Chris Hemsworth was funny. Jones was good, if a little stereo typed, as the loud, brash, blue collared expert on the city but it was McKinnon who I though stole the show as the eccentric but brilliant nuclear engineer and it’s about time she is given her own movie to see what she can do. The biggest surprise was how good Hemsworth fit in to the group as the hapless, idiotic, secretary Kevin Beckman. I’d seen him delivery witty one liners as Thor but his comic timing and fools play sat neatly with the long-time comediennes on screen and he never felt like the throw away bit player that he could have been.

I tried very hard to judge this movie on its own merits and not try and get sucked into the ‘it’s not going to be as good as the original’ hype that has been all over the internet since the movie was first announced but the problem was, from the cameos by most of the cast inclusive of ghosts, the outfits, the car, to the nods towards lines and locations from the original film, there was a constant reminder to the classic original so the movie suffered from its own lack of identity.

If I somehow could have wiped the original from my mind for two hours I think this movie could have been one of the big successes of the summer as the script is funny, the CGI is excellent as the ghosts looked superbly realistic and there were even a few nice jump scare moments. The story was well told but kept simple, it was funny at the right moments and the plot moved along at a good pace so as not to bore.

I overheard some people in the movie theater say that they would rather watch Scooby Doo for the rest of their lives than watch this movie again and while we are all entitled to our opinions , this is the danger of the overexposure and over analysis the internet gives us. We have been polluted by media planting the seeds in our head that this is not a good movie. It is not a great movie but it is a good movie and it’s an entertaining film on its own merits, it’s just a pity that they didn’t decide to come up with an original idea around the talent they brought together as it seems like a missed opportunity and could have been a real hit with a little originality. Try and not be warped by the poor reviews, go see it and judge for yourself, it’s deserving of that much and if you can, take it in 3D as the effects are excellent.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5.5 Out Of 10