After all the months of hype/backlash, the new "Ghostbusters" reboot is finally out in theatres. First of all, I am a huge fan of the original "Ghostbusters." It’s one of my all-time favorite comedies. In fact, I even enjoyed the sequel, despite its flaws. Anyway, in regards to the new one, I have never seen an advertising campaign get this much negative publicity. People everywhere seemed to rage over this movie before it even came out, it was crazy. So, was it worth the rage? Honestly, no. I thought it was overall OK. It’s not bad, but it’s not great, just OK. Some things work great about the film, others not so much.

OK, let’s just take a look at the story. Dr. Erin Gilbert (played by Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (played by Melissa McCarthy) wrote a book years ago that studies paranormal activities and creatures, but as it turned out to not be popular, Erin tries to distance herself from it and becomes a college professor. Once she is asked about her book because someone saw a ghost in a museum, she brings it to Abby’s attention, and the two of them, along with Abby’s new partner, Jillian (played by Kate McKinnon), go to investigate. Antics ensue, and while catching a few ghosts, they come across a deadly plot by a hotel employee to unleash a ghost apocalypse on New York, and now the race is on to stop this guy before he destroys the city with his ghost army.

As you can see from the plot, this does take a few twists and turns that are different from the original, and it actually is interesting. I might as well discuss what doesn’t work in this movie first, because it has a few flaws. First of all, Chris Hemsworth’s character could be a little bit grating at times. Secondly, the cameos in this movie stick out like a sore thumb. Now, most of the time the jokes work fine, but when they die, man, do they die. It feels like they have a lot of great ideas, but then someone just throws in a couple bad jokes. Every once in a while, they tend to stretch a joke in a “so awkward it’s funny” kind of way. You have to be really careful with those kinds of jokes, because they can either turn out to be really funny or really annoying. The results are very mixed.

So, that’s all my problems with the movie. So, what do I actually like about it? Once again, some of the jokes work. As I said before, there’s a few bad ones in there, but most of the time, they range from a few chuckles to actual laugh-out-loud moments. Most of them have to do with the main characters, though, but I’ll get to that in a moment. I also really enjoyed the designs of the ghosts. Sure, they’re obviously CGI, but they still look creepy, and just like with the original, the designs are very creative. In fact, there’s even a point where the villain takes on the form of the "Ghostbusters" logo, but then becomes a giant monstrous incarnation of the logo. I thought that was a very clever touch.

Another thing I really enjoyed about it was some of the new things they added, like how they came up with the "Ghostbusters" logo. They never did that in the original. Did you ever notice that? There’s also a great scene where Erin explains to the others why she and Abby were interested in ghosts in the first place. I liked how this time, we got an actual explanation, and a pretty creepy one I must say, about how they first got into ghosts. I thought both of these were very clever touches to the story.

But the best part about this movie is the "Ghostbusters" themselves, as it should be. While I don’t think they have as strong a chemistry as the original cast, they still stand great on their own. Each one of these four actresses brings their own unique skills to this film and they all work off each other great. Kristen Wiig is great as the dubious one who puts up with her group’s oddities, McCarthy is wonderful at being the obsessive scientist, as well as some other casual moments, like when the Chinese restaurant just can’t get her wonton right, and Leslie jones does great at being the streetwise energetic member of the group. But the best one by far is Kate McKinnon. Imagine a mix between Egon from the original “Ghostbusters” and Doc Brown from “Back To The Future”, she’s insane in all the right ways. She truly stole the show for me.

Also, I’d be remiss to not mention theme to this movie. No, I’m not talking about the Fall Out Boy version (that version works ok during an action sequence, but otherwise does little for me). I’m talking about the version played in the credits by Walk The Moon. It actually stays very true to the original, but still manages to add a new flavor to the song. If there’s one thing that I can highly recommend in this movie, it’s Walk The Moon’s cover of the theme song.

What it really boils down to for me is that the "Ghostbusters" themselves are great, and there are some creative ideas, but it wasn’t strong enough to be its own entity. When it focuses on being its own thing, it works pretty well, but every once in a while, it tends to lean on the original, and tends to fall flat. I really hope they make another TV series with these new "Ghostbusters," because I feel like they can do great with a better script. Like I said before, the "Ghostbusters" themselves are the best thing about this movie. Overall, I’d say it ties with “Ghostbusters II”, which was also entertaining, but had a few problems in writing. Sure, it had some problems, but overall, I have no trouble calling these "Ghostbusters" if there’s something strange in the neighborhood.