🐭 Received: April 26th, 2010 🐭 Written: April 7th-18th, 2024 🐭
Hello, gamers and readers alike, welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to tune in today, I really appreciate it!
During the holiday season of 1986, Universal Pictures released an animated film in theatres called An American Tail, a story set in the year 1885 about a family of Russian-Jewish mice emigrating to the United States in the hopes of a better life but unfortunately during the move the son Fievel (voiced by Phillip Glasser in his film debut) gets separated from his family and wishes to reunite with them, but along the way he meets some new friends. This was the second animated feature-length movie directed by Don Bluth (after having impressed critics and audiences alike with The Secret of NIMH in 1982 following his departure from Disney) as well as a collaborative work with executive producer Steven Spielberg (in his first animated film) based on an idea by David Kirschner. Costing $9 million to produce, An American Tail was released to positive reviews and ended up making $84 million worldwide making it a huge success (at the time the highest grossing animated film), it would be the most profitable film in Don Bluth's career until the release of Anastasia eleven years later.
Screengrabbed while watching Andrea Pannocchia's English Longplay of An American Tail: The Computer Adventures of Fievel and His Friends on YouTube
In 1993, Capstone Software released onto the MS-DOS computer Manley & Associates' An American Tail: The Computer Adventures of Fievel and His Friends, a point-and-click graphic adventure (with the occasional mini-game) that spans across An American Tail and Fievel Goes West with only one musical track looping throughout as you guided Fievel along in the young Mousekewitz's first excursion in the video game medium.
Aoyama, during his time at Hudson Soft, had done support work for Hudson Soft's Kato-chan Ken-chan/J.J. & Jeff and Red Company and Atlus' PC Genjin/Bonk's Adventure, helped promote Inter State's Super Star Soldier, and directed Media Rings Corporation's Spin Pair.
Images from GameFAQs
The belated SNES video game adaptation of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West--produced by Aoyama, Miyamoto, Tanigawa, Ritch, and Sazawa, designed by Junzo Shimada, and programmed by Junya Shimoda, Tomonari Ikeda, and Testuo Oyama--would be released in North America on August of 1994 which would be followed up by a European release that November by the publisher Hudson Soft.
Left: Staring off the game by walking through mist | Right: Shooting a dollar box to reveal an item that allows more than one cork to be shot at a time
In the licensed sidescrolling platformer An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, you take control of the anthropomorphic Russian-Jewish mouse Fievel Mousekewitz (voiced by Phillip Glasser) whom you can navigate left and right, duck down, and even climb the occasional stairs (which you do not have to be properly centered in front of in order to climb them up or down). You can make Fievel jump up in the air with the B button, with your altitude you
Left: Shooting at a dollar box to reveal a penny 🪙 | Right: While it's unfortunate that he doesn't make a bigger contribution to the game, it is nice to know that Shimada Kikaku did not forsake the fan favorite An American Tail orange tabby cat Tiger by having him be the face of a large golden box
gained based on how hard you pressed the button, and with the Y button you can make him fire a projectile from his pop gun whilst moving, while ducking down, while airborne, and while underwater toward dollar sign boxes as well as toward enemies. Also with the B button, exclusive to when you're in the waters of the sewers level, you can have Fievel swim upward by tapping it as many times as necessary. Due to the spaciousness of these areas, if you wish to know whatever action is happening above you or below you, hold down the up or down buttons to have the camera pan toward either direction until Fievel touches the top or bottom of the screen. During the course of the game you'll be gathering items like coins of
Left: With just the right aim, you can easily take out that feline gangster | Right: Just checking the inside of a pop gun
varying sizes (a small coin being worth 1 while a big coin is worth 5) where getting a hundred of them will earn you a life, a small heart to replenish your lost health by one, a big heart to increase your health capacity by one (and have it fully replenished), a cork to increase the number of times you can fire from your pop gun at once if not increase the projectile's potency, a body of water to have Fievel shoot water instead (but only for the first stage) reserved for the platforms that are on fire, a sheriff badge to momentarily render Fievel invincible, and a "1up" icon to gain a life. Generally speaking, in the middle of each level you
Left: With the water pistol equipped, you can securely douse out any oncoming platform that has been set on fire, and all with a lovely New York skyline in the background as well 🔫 | Right: Walk on the rope which acts as the antiquated incarnation of a conveyor belt
will come across an icon of Fievel's sheriff bloodhound idol Wylie Burp (voiced by the late James Stewart in his final film role before he retired, RIP) which acts as a checkpoint that you can pick up from in the event that you lose a life, and on rare occasions you'll come across a big golden box with the face of Fievel's orange tabby best friend Tiger (voiced by the late Dom DeLuise, RIP) that you must fire at a few times to reveal either a helpful item or a small dollar sign box to shoot at. Each stage is split into two to three levels, with the final level culminating in a boss battle.
Left: How nice of One Eye to have a wanted poster in the exact spot that you're fighting him in, anyway here's some water in your eye | Right: Riding on an opened sardine can in the watery drain of the sewer
The visuals of this game were worked on by designer Junzo Shimada, Yosuke Ikeda, and Yūko Chikuda, who have all done a good job at crafting a solid-looking SNES game through and through with a likable sense of visual aesthetic. The back alleyway stage in New York begins with a light mist effect lending some atmospheric depth as you see items like cans, books, and toy trains laid out in a bricked setting with a slightly skewed foreground perspective a la Brøderbund's Prince of Persia which is followed up by a nice blue backdrop
Left: Swimming in the drain | Right: Climbing up the ladder
of New York as you carefully platform across a clothesline during the middle of the rain. I like the cold color scheme of the drain and sewer stage levels with it being blue all throughout from the relaxing color-layering water below to the walls that adorn it with the occasional lighting made even more atmospheric through the obstructive foregrounds with the chains and the stairs. I like how in the second level of the third stage you can see the looming train riding off in the backdrop, and when you're on the train proper there is a nice orange skyline with the occasional mist effect and the cactus-filled desert backdrop at the bottom. My favorite stage in the game is when Fievel is marooned in the desert with the occasional cacti
Left: Secret drain compartment | Right: If you touch the spike bed below while in the water, you won't get damaged right away but you will if you linger on them too long
at the forefront adding to the atmospheric depth, it's made even more visually stunning as the sand sizzles for a heat-like affect through and through in the foreground and in the dune background with the best part being that each level takes place in a different time of the day (with the first being early day, the second level being darker-colored with the scorching sun, and the third level taking place at night with a star-studded sky with the odd shooting star). Fievel has got a solid in-game design as the game captures his look well plus he's got a decent walk cycle, his jumping pose looks decent, and I like how the flap of his white cowboy hat subtly billows back as he's in midair. Among the rogues' gallery Fievel must contend with are
Left: Sometimes you'll have to deal with pesky bats | Right: And other times you might have to shoot at dogfish while in in the water (or when they leap out should be above water by then)
feline gangsters of different varieties, bats, literal dogfish, hawks, wiggle worms, scorpions, sentient buffalo skulls, and snakes, which all animate to a decent degree and are solid to look at. The bosses also don't look too bad, like the large cat One Eye (voiced by Patrick Pinney) whose name derives from the fact that he dons an eyepatch, the imposing gunslinging tarantula T.R. Chula (voiced by Jon Lovitz) with his orange handlebar moustache, and the well-dressed in red main villain Cat R. Waul (voiced by John Cleese) who takes up a good chunk of the screen when you face off against him in the end (and let's not forget the
Left: Shooting at the marionette mouse while invincible | Right: "Ya done real good, son..."
marionette mouse puppet controlled by Waul at the end of the second stage, who was also voiced by Cleese in the movie). Their color schemes are good, they look as they should, and I love how during the One Eye and Chula fights there is a spotlight that sometimes appears in place giving off an atmospheric aura, and how the light fixtures inside the saloon fluctuate from on to off on the way to fight Waul at the end. What disappoints me in this regard is the overall lack of expressiveness in the game, with the exception of perhaps the hawks during
Left: Riding on an upward slope in a minecart | Right: Be wary of your surroundings for sometimes there'll be feline gangsters tailing you on minecarts of their own
the desert and Chula being tied up in his own web after defeating him, they hang on to one expression even in defeat as they fade away and/or explode. Even Fievel lacks the expressiveness he had in the movie, blinking his eyes every other second and only looking inside the barrel of his cork gun if you hold still long enough, though it is amusing that even after having lost all your health you can still pause the game as he front flips off of the screen
Left: Crouching on top of a stationary boulder | Right: Taking a nickel
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West's music was composed by the late composer James Horner (RIP), once again reprising his duties as composer after the first film five years prior and is the only animated sequel he had direct* involvement with. This would mark the first of two and three collaborations between him and directors Phil Nibbelink (the second collaboration being We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story) and Simon Wells (the third collaboration being Balto) respectively. Alas, none of Horner's cues from the movie get used in the game proper, but fortunately the music that is present here is good in its own right.
* For those unaware (or were not exposed to in one form or another via TV airings or through VHS and/or DVD), six years after the 1988 Don Bluth classic The Land Before Time came out the Universal Cartoon Studios-produced made for TV sequels which occasionally used Horner's themes from that film (this despite veering into musical territory) up until the ninth film in 2002
Image from MobyGames
Responsible for the music to this video game adaptation is T's Music, a Japanese music and sound firm that has been in business since 1991.
Among the firm's many music credits are the Sega 16-bit port of Sega's Flicky, Hertz's Sega 16-bit port of Sega's OutRun, Hudson-Era H.K.'s NEC PC Engine adaptation of Tecmo's Ninja Ryūkunden, Red Company's Winds of Thunder/Lords of Thunder, AIM's SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Riverhill Soft and Crosstalk's Sega Saturn port of Quest's Tactics Ogre, Red Company and Aspect's Super Tempo, Cooking Mama Limited's Cooking Mama franchise, Hudson Soft and Amble's Bomberman Story DS, Monolith Soft's Project X Zone, Arzest's Yoshi's New Island, and Monkeycraft's Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World.
Left: Riding a minecart across the gap on gradually crumbling tracks | Right: Getting across the crumbling tracks, walking edition
Also involved in the sound department are Takeshi Sato (whose other audio credits comprise of Bullet-Proof Software's Battle Tetris Gaiden, Westone's Dark Half and Willy Wombat, Overworks and Red Company's Sakura Taisen games, Wow Entertainment's Sega GT, and Artoon's Yoshi's Island DS), Takashi Tsumaki (who also composed Humming Bird Soft's Record of Lodss War II, Bell Corporation's Wing Arms, and Dark Half), and Munetaka Sakamoto (whose others sound credits are Record of Lodoss War II, Media.Vision's Crime Crackers and Gunners Heaven/Rapid Reload, Exact's Jumping Flash!, AlfaSystem's Horned Owl/Project: Horned Owl, and AlfaSystem and MARS Corporation's Linda³), whom all three shared involvement with TENKY's Sega Saturn port of Headroom's Tanjō: Debut.
Left: Conveniently placed Wylie checkpoint | Right: Beware of the boulders bouncing toward you from behind
When turning on the game you're greeted to a very incredible-sounding title theme, but unfortunately in the game proper you only hear roughly the first forty seconds of it as before it forcefully fades out into the attract mode. With no other options in the title screen outside of pressing Start as well as no secret code to access a sound test, that's a real shame because the following minute and a half (when heard on YouTube) eclipses the earlier portion wholesale, with a fantastic instrumental all across. 🥺 Another theme you don't hear to its completion is the stage prep theme, where only the first six seconds (!!!) are heard (with the following twenty seconds, which are energetically bouncy, not being heard officially in-game)
Left: Riding on the train | Right: Climbing up toward the roof
as it forcefully cuts to the game afterward. I always feel bad when a composer pours all their heart into creating a number only for it to not be heard in all its completion, it's never fair. 😔 With the soundtrack being uploaded on YouTube by different outlets and sources, Sato's, Tsumaki's, and Sakamoto's themes can now be heard in all their glory, which is great for music lovers everywhere. The introductory New York back alleyway stage theme is optimistic-sounding and atmospherically bouncy (despite the occasional rain), the sewer stage theme is lightheartedly menacing with the noir-styled jazz-like instrumentation, the train stage theme is energetically fun-sounding and engaging in a relaxing manner, the desert stage theme is atmospherically immersive in its composition and is among my favorite themes in the game because of this (perfectly complementing its location regardless of the
Left: That feline gangster has no chance against Fievel so long as he's invincible | Right: Divebombing hawk
time of day it transpires in), and the final Green River stage theme is high-spirited and energetic in a heroically fast-paced sense. The boss theme is absolutely intense and never relents with its ominous vibes, the end of stage theme is congratulatorily upbeat, and the ending and credits theme after defeating Cat R. Waul is pleasant-sounding and is a good way of bookending this game. The sound effects are decent, like whenever the cork from the pop gun hits its target (or if not, hits a wall or obstacle), the splashes for when Fievel enters the water, the bubbly sound for when he swims in it, the audible wriggle sound of the worms, the twinkling of the shooting stars during the night-time desert stage level, and the crackling thunder sound for when a boss bites the bullet.
Left: Going up against T.R. Chula whose navigating around that giant spiderweb of his | Right: Fievel in the spotlight
Each time you start off a stage of three hearts' worth of health, which you can augment the capacity of up to five should you find two big hearts. Should you lose a life in any capacity after having four or five hearts' worth of health capacity, it will be reverted back to three, which is also the case after starting off the new stage (even if you were above that mark by that point). Should you lose all your health, fall offscreen, or fail to reach the end of the level before time runs out, you'll be set back at the start of the level or by the Wylie Burp checkpoint. Should you lose all your lives you'll be given a choice to continue or not as Fievel is tied up inside a giant mousetrap at the mercy of Cat R. Waul who's carrying a large pair of scissors looming above the helpless mouse. Choosing to use up one of your limited continues will have you resume at the present level of the current stage that you are in.
Left: Lost in the desert | Right: Touching the cactus doesn't immediately hurt you despite how splintery and sharp it is, for Fievel will slowly sink down, meaning you have at least a half-second if not a full second to jump up to avoid actually taking damage past that point 🌵
Following the movie's release in 1991, it got followed by a short-lived animated series created by David Kirschner called Fievel's American Tails that takes place after the events of the film which lasted only thirteen episodes in 1992 that promoted reading, with Wylie Burp written out of the show out of respect for James Stewart who retired from acting. There would be two more An American Tail movies at the turn of the century that were made for TV with The Treasure of Manhattan Island and The Mystery of the Night Monster with Thomas Dekker taking on the role of Fievel which both precede the events of Fievel Goes West and saw the return of Tony Toponi (reprised by Pat Musick) after only having made unspoken cameos in the second film as Musick was taking care of her daughter Mae Whitman at that point.
Screengrabbed while watching LongplayArchive's An American Tail: Fievel's Gold Rush Longplay video on YouTube; despite his presence in the cover, Cat R. Waul is nowhere in the game proper
In 2001, development was underway for a Game Boy Advance platformer that takes place after the events of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West which was developed by Hokus Pokus in the form of An American Tail: Fievel's Gold Rush which saw Fievel Mousekewitz go on a journey to save his friend Wylie Burp upon learning that he had been kidnapped by Cat Malone. On the way he subdues and defeats enemies by hopping and bopping on them or by tossing his magical hat towards them, slowly collecting pieces of the map leading to "Gold Dust Ranch". This game got mixed reviews at the time, but is it me or is it bizarre that Fievel's family seemingly moved back to New York after having traveled and settled all the way to Utah? 🤨 Odd, also whenever Fievel sustains damage he sounds like a chimpanzee.
Left: Looking the hawk dead in the eye before opening fire | Right: That hole formed up out of nowhere, I should've been more careful!
When the game came out it generally received mixed to positive reviews at the time. AllGame gave it 2 and a half out of 5 stars, Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded it a 6 out of 10, GamePro gave it a 15.5 out of 25, Game Players gave it a 55%, and German magazines MAN!AC and MegaFun gave the game a 63% and a 41% respectively, but by the same token there were other review circles that were more receptive to Shimada Kikaku's video game license such as Nintendo Power which gave it a 3.475 out of 5, Italian magazine
Left: Cacti, cacti, everywhere! 🦂 Oh, and scorpions, too! | Right: Scorching sun ☀️
Computer+Videogiochi awarded it a 72 out of 100, Entertainment Weekly awarded it a B+, British-based Nintendo Magazine System gave it an 83 out of 100, German magazine Play Time a 69%, French-based Player One gave it a 78%, Spanish magazine Superjuegos were highly generous and graced it with a 93 out of 100 verdict, and finally Total! magazine gave it a 5+ (E+). So on the whole, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West was given fair reviews across the board, which I feel is fair.
Left: If you wish to take the easier route, destroy the rock | Right: and fall through to the underground
My first introduction to Fievel was by watching An American Tail: Fievel Goes West on VHS during the '90s when I was a kid, I believe I watched it before I got properly acquainted with its predecessor (I've seen plenty of Don Bluth films on a frequent basis growing up and when I got older, but I'd be lying if I said An American Tail was among them for I remember catching it on TV a few times). They are both radically different movies, but I'll always have a soft spot for the second film as it was also my introduction to the late James Stewart.
Left: Don't come into contact with that dripping sand, or you'll be dragged down with it | Right: Scorpion launching its red pincers toward you
It wasn't until my teenage years in the late 2000's when I learned that An American Tail: Fievel Goes West received a video game adaptation on the SNES console (albeit a few years after the movie came out), having learned about it online (particularly on RVGFanatic's website) which did make me curious. In April 2010 I decided to quench this curiosity and check out Shimada Kikaku's video game adaptation, for it was the third SNES game I ordered on eBay in 2010 after Software Creations' Plok and Silicon & Synapse's The Lost Vikings as well as the eleventh SNES game I got from eBay since signing up almost the year prior.
Left: Got sand in his eye, what with him twitching like that | Right: Love the detail with the owl perched on the cactus at the foreground peering left and right sometimes 🦉
As for the game itself, it was nice to get to play a game with Fievel Mousekewitz as a playable character and for the most part it is a pleasantly solid game while it lasts. It's got a neat visual aesthetic and the gameplay is simple yet decently fun as you shoot corks (or water) from the pop gun toward your foes, provided you aimed at their head which is where it's most effective meaning you'll have to properly time your jumps to do them in if need be, and it's nice that you don't have to be fully centered in order to latch on to a ladder and climb up it (whether you be straddling the edge or take up both sides). I like the different scenarios as
Left: Nighttime invincibility | Right: Stay above the quicksand and dispose of the buffalo skull while you're at it
the game sees Fievel traverse through a light mist, occasionally dousing out the flames of a red hot platform with his momentary water projectile fired from his pop gun, riding down the drain on a sardine can in the surface if not swimming underwater while being sure not to get dragged down by the odd current whilst contending with dogfish, alternating between riding a minecart and going on foot on the way to the train that sometimes require you to narrowly avoid the oncoming bouncing boulder, during the train ride you have a choice to venture through the ground level or by roof, jumping over cacti and keeping yourself above the occasional quicksand as you dispose of pesky hawks and worms (where hitting the head will take care of it wholesale unlike you shoot at its separated body), in the second desert level
Left: Get rid of that snake pronto 🐍 | Right: Standing on a boulder as it rolls behind the fence
you have a choice to stay in the surface and tread ahead that way or you can shoot a rock to travel underground while being sure not to get in contact with the dripping sand from the ceiling lest you wish to get dragged down along with it, and I like how in the final boss level you make your way up the three-story saloon by going up the makeshift ladders made up of pencils where certain steps are occupied by slithering snakes (in what I like to see as a clever nod to "Snakes and Ladders"). 🐍🪜 The overall lack of expressiveness does reduce the level of charm considerably which doesn't help its case, having more than just one facial
Left: At last, Fievel has reached the destination of Green River, Utah | Right: Watch out for that defenestrated bomb tossed out from the inside 💣
expression on all counts would have helped in the long run, but as it stands An American Tail: Fievel Goes West does suffer in comparison to the likes of fellow licensed Nintendo 16-bit mouse platformers Capcom's Mickey no Magical Adventure/The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse, its two sequels, and Traveller's Tales' Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse which were all expressive in their own right. Fievel does have lungs of steel, however, for he can seemingly breathe underwater indefinitely without the need to resurface to gain back air (unlike Mickey in those games), and his tail is present at all times unlike the case with the Disney Mouse in Mickey Mania (regardless of version).
Left: Scaling a house in Green River | Right: Going out in a blaze of ... explosion?!
Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells would co-direct one more movie with We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story two years after the fact, after it came out, however, they would both go their separate ways. I was surprised to learn later in life that An American Tail: Fievel Goes West shared the same director as Balto and The Prince of Egypt with Simon Wells at the helm, as a child and teenager I never put two and two together--especially with The Prince of Egypt (albeit as co-director, which some regard as the one good film in Wells' directorial career), which is an incredibly spiritual movie even to this day and one I sincerely consider to be the best West-produced animated film of the '90s. 🥰 Wells is still working as a story artist to this day which he has had better luck with than as a director in the 21st century, with his live action adaptation of his great-grandfather H. G. Wells' The Time Machine not faring well with critics and the live action/mo-cap film Mars Needs Moms was a total flop.
Left: Oh no, an unintentional visual gag Fievel's been caught! 😧 | Right: Fence hopping
It's not very demanding in terms of difficulty, for it is a fairly manageable game to play through to the end (though that depends on how you control your midair jumps and timed projectile firing) and is a game that can be beaten in roughly thirty or so minutes (though, again, that depends on how you're playing) which might be seen as too short for those looking for a sidescrolling platformer with a little bit of meat to it. Another difficulty setting or two would've made up for that. But despite lacking both in depth and in breadth,
Left: Climbing up the stairs walking towards the final showdown inside the saloon where Cat R. Waul lies in wait | Right: "Look out, pardner, there's a new mouse in town!"
and despite what personal quibbles I might have with it, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is still pleasant to play on the SNES once in a while with a healthy dose of Western flair and an engaging visual aesthetic complete with a good original score to back it up. 🙂 Had I played it as a child I would've probably eaten it up, having grown up with the movie, as the low difficulty and simple gameplay ensures that it is a fairly accessible platformer for gamers of all skill levels (even beginners) but I'm glad I caught up with this game eventually and I appreciate its stronger qualities as well as the fact that it gives you the option to take the high road or the low road in the more spacious levels. It might not be as memorable next to other games with Hudson Soft's name attached, but for what it is it's a fairly solid title while it lasts.
My Personal Score: 7.0/10
● I originally reviewed this game on my blog in January of 2011 with a 7.5 out of 10 (which I've recently deleted, because I feel like 90% of my old reviews are crap or unreadable because they don't align with the standards I would adopt later in life), but truth be told I figured even at the time it might have been slightly higher than it deserved, as a 7 out of 10 is more fitting (I did not want to feel like I was going to mimic RVGFanatic's 7 out of 10 score which is why I slightly bumped up it up way back when, but I suppose the reality is there are going to be instances when review scores match regardless of whether one is cognizant of other reviews' existence or not). With this review I aimed to be more articulate and in-depth, as well as be better written with more eloquence and insight and sense of research for I want my reviews to hold up over time (like I've been trying to accomplish these past couple of years).
● Be sure to look after and think kindly of the Jewish community, be it human or rodent. Remember: antisemitism is evil. It's one thing to have a difference of opinion when it comes to works of fiction, but when it comes to the sanctity of life (which can never be replaced once it's gone)? That's another matter entirely.
● In irrelevant news, last week (4/11/24) I got to watch Gil Kenan's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in theatres despite not having watched the Jason Reitman-directed Ghostbusters: Afterlife (y'know, COVID). I admit I was worried about getting lost, but despite that I personally liked Frozen Empire and managed to follow it just fine despite missing out on the 2021 film. Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon have a wonderful chemistry together and are likable leads, the talented Mckenna Grace is fantastic as Phoebe Spengler (whom I saw a lot of the late Egon in her, round glasses and dark curly hair and smarts, RIP Harold Ramis) for I felt invested in her character, Kumail Nanjiani was very funny, I loved seeing the veteran actors Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson return as Ray and Winston and was endeared by their friendship (these two have come a long way in forty years), seeing Annie Potts' Janine Melnitz become a ghostbuster was a treat (not a spoiler, it was shown in the trailer... and her animated counterpart in The Real Ghostbusters occasionally played a part as a ghostbuster) as brief as it was when it happened, the brief reference to the late Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters II at one point was nice, the special effects are great, Dario Marianelli's score was very nice and I liked the subtle nods and homages to the themes and motifs introduced by the late Elmer Bernstein (RIP, you legend) in the late Ivan's 1984 classic. I did recognize that there were nods and callbacks to the original film (the ondes Martenot at the end of the credits harkening to the Columbia screen of the first film was 👌 Perfect!), and in terms of plotting it was a bit all over the place sometimes I'll admit. 1984's Ghostbusters was a movie that felt like it captured lightning in the bottle (many feel that way), something future films in the series could not accomplish no matter how hard they tried as it is a difficult act to follow. It doesn't hold a candle to it (not even close), but Frozen Empire I personally had fun watching and am glad I saw on the big screen. The mayor, though... how on earth did that happen? 😲 Never in a million years would I have seen that coming.
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