Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire marks the fourth or maybe fifth installment of the franchise that has now lasted 40 years. It’s been a bumpy ride since the iconic original, with no sequel even coming close to matching the magic of the original.
Well, I think that’s changed slightly with Frozen Empire. It’s still heavy on nostalgia and a loaded plot but also has joyous energy and visual mischief to spare from its star-studded cast.
The main actors from Afterlife have returned: Paul Rudd leads this new crew of Ghostbusters, and this time, he helps uproot the Spengler family from Oklahoma to New York, where all the ghostbusting began. That includes sharing the original headquarters.
The opening sequence is a lot of fun. Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, and McKenna Grace join Rudd’s Gary Grooberson as they embark on a ghost chase through the streets, and it concludes right at the steps of the New York Public Library. The chase offers a lot of effects, but it also has a lot of funny dialogue to keep it afloat.
The plot gets set into motion when an artifact is revealed and it supposedly will be responsible for creating a new Ice Age in New York. This is when the original Ghostbusters are called on: Dan Aykroyd returns as Ray Stantz with a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo; Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddmore, who now runs a paranormal research center, and of course, Bill Murray is back as Peter Venkman, who really does nothing more than his usual shtick of sardonic quips.
Kumail Nanjiani costars as a guy who might have a weapon to help the Ghostbusters combat this icy threat and McKenna Grace’s character strikes up a friendship with a dead teenage girl named Melody (Emily Alyn Lind) who may have a connection to the ice.
The 1984 original was a film with a lot of humor, brains and thrills and had endearing characters that made it timeless. The sequels that followed tried replicating that formula to diminishing effect. Thankfully, Frozen Empire doesn’t suffer a similar fate.
Sure it has an overstuffed plot with too many characters intertwined, but it does have nice humor that is closer to the original and did get a chuckle out of me more than Afterlife did.
Add to that the terrific chemistry between the veterans and rookies in the series, and you’ve got a moderately entertaining diversion.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a far cry from its 1984 inception, but it’s perhaps the most exciting and the funniest since that one. If there’s going to be another one, maybe what we need is a ghostly screenwriter.
Grade: B
(Rated PG-13 for supernatural action/violence, language and suggestive references.)
