Ghostbusters Frozen Empire Review: Busting Makes Me Feel Meh
Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic
When Ghostbusters: Afterlife came out, I hoped it would be a worthwhile sequel to the most beloved comedy of my childhood. What we got was something too steeped in nostalgia to truly stand on its own. Still, I remained hopeful that a second sequel would have the opportunity to tell a new, fresh ghostbusting tale. Could Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire deliver on this promise?
Frozen Empire picks up two years after the events of Afterlife, and the Spenglers are back in New York City, living in the old firehouse and busting ghosts together as a family in Ecto-1. After one call causes property damage, 15-year-old Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) gets sidelined until she turns 18. While her brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), her mom Callie (Carrie Coon), and her former science teacher/mom’s boyfriend Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), are ghostbusting, Phoebe strikes up a friendship over chess with the ghost of a 16-year-old named Melody (Emily Alyn Lind).
Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) has further built out the capabilities of the Ghostbusters as an entity, expanding on the plans that Egon had made for the firehouse’s containment unit by repurposing an old aquarium into a larger paranormal research center. At the same time, Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) comes into possession of a mysterious orb at his shop that is a prison for a powerful spirit that threatens to cast all of New York City into a new ice age, and ghostbusters old and new must come together to save the city.
Whereas in Afterlife, the story seemed to be focused more equally between Phoebe and Trevor, Frozen Empire is much more focused on Phoebe and her story of trying to find a purpose and her frustration with being sidelined because of her age. Most of the newer characters take a back seat to her. Ray gets the most central story arc of the older generation of Ghostbusters, with Winston more involved than Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman.
It is nice to have a story not beholden to Gozer the Gozerian. Reports were that writer Jason Reitman and co-writer/director Gil Kenan took inspiration from the 80s animated series in crafting the story, wanting it to feel like a long episode of the series. I can appreciate the source of inspiration, even if the end results are mixed.
Aykroyd seems to be having the most fun with the movie, I enjoyed Rudd’s performance (despite a few cringy lines of dialogue lifted directly from the Ghostbusters theme song), and I like Winston getting his proper due as spearheading the Ghostbusters as a business, where in the original he, unfortunately, felt a little tacked on as a blue-collar guy compared to the other three having science university backgrounds, even if they were fringe. Also, Kumail Nanjiani has an important role in the story, and it will be interesting to see if he sticks around in any future sequels.
Many of the problems of Afterlife, though, persist with this film. I did not revisit Afterlife, so it is hard for me to say which movie is more laden with nostalgia, but they seemed to be neck-and-neck, in my opinion. These sequels have one foot trying to take a step forward, but one foot is still firmly planted in the past and insisting on returning to the first movie's signposts. It is no surprise what the audience will be in store for when there is a plot detour to the New York Public Library, or who the mayor of New York City is revealed to be early on.
I was also kind of shocked at the lack of laughs overall in the movie. The original Ghostbusters of 1984 captured lightning in a bottle, one of the miracles of comedies; there’s almost a kind of alchemy to it. The right script with the right actors, director, and improvisation leads to something magical. And that also seems to be why so many sequels to classic comedies rarely live up to the original, because they are trying to recreate that magic and catch that lightning again, but it’s something you can’t replicate.
With Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, I was cautiously optimistic as it was a chance to tell a new, fresh Ghostbusters story. There are hints of potential, but this is another missed opportunity. At this point, I’m not sure it’s worth discovering if another sequel might finally capture some magic of its own.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars