Directed by Gil Kenan and written by Jason Reitman, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire follows the Spengler family who have decided to leave Summerville, Oklahoma, and return to the iconic New York City firehouse where the original Ghostbusters have taken ghost-busting to the next level. When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, the Ghostbusters new and old must unite to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife served as a grand resurgence for the franchise and for me personally it was a beautiful and passionately made project that really impacted me on an emotional level. With how much I loved Afterlife I was eager to see what this new sequel had to offer, even with a new director at the helm and the unfortunate absence of Ivan Reitman due to his passing. I found Frozen Empire to be a flawed but overall enjoyable film that serves as a good follow-up even when it doesn’t reach the same heights of greatness as its predecessor. It succeeds in delivering a fun time while also honoring the old films and acting as somewhat of a sweet tribute to Ivan Reitman’s work, being full of charm, humor, and sprinkles of heart that make it a worthwhile watch, despite its weaknesses.
Both the returning cast and new additions are all solid across the board in terms of performances, giving us very likable and even lovable characters that shine together and individually. Some characters that I really like unfortunately do get sidelined in this film but others take the center stage that I ended up absolutely loving.
McKenna Grace shines again as Phoebe Spengler, who undergoes a journey of growth and maturity as she desperately tries to find her place and purpose in the world as a Ghostbuster. It serves as a good arc for her character, continuing her story that began in Afterlife. It connects to other themes in the film that feel well executed even if it doesn’t have the same emotional impact as before. But I was still invested in Phoebe in this film largely thanks to McKenna Grace’s performance and I also really liked her chemistry with all the other characters in this film, including her family and a new ghost character named Melody, played by Emily Alyn Lind, who was an unexpected but welcomed addition to the film.
Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, and Paul Rudd return as their respective characters from Afterlife and all share a great family dynamic, making them a different team compared to the original Ghostbusters but still just as likable, and they are all given great performances. Paul Rudd easily delivers some of the best humor in the group as Gary Grooberson. He also has a great little arc of his own as he is trying his best to be a part of the Spengler family as the potential future husband to Callie and future stepdad to Phoebe and Trevor. You really do feel for him as he is trying to connect with all of them respectfully, and it’s not often you get a character like this depicted in a positive way in films, so it honestly felt unique and refreshing.
Celeste O’Connor’s Lucky and Logan Kim’s Podcast are back and while they are great performance-wise they sadly don’t have as much screen time as they did in Afterlife despite being such fun characters in that film. They do have chances to shine but they end up being largely overshadowed by other characters and I couldn’t help but think they were supposed to have more scenes but for some reason got cut.
Regarding the legacy Ghostbuster characters, they have more of a role in this film and are once again awesome. The two standouts among them are easily Dan Aykroyd as Ray and Ernie Hudson as Winston who really steal the show with their scenes. Bill Murray as Peter and Annie Potts as Janine are good but the film mostly focuses on Ray and Winston and honestly, I am completely ok with this decision since they are both acted and written extremely well.
Dan Aykroyd in particular was such a phenomenal gem in this film, unexpectedly delivering the most heart and humor as Ray and I couldn’t help but love him in every single scene he was in. It honestly makes me wish Dan Aykroyd was in more films these days because he truly is fantastic and shares such great chemistry with everyone.
There is also another returning legacy character they bring back that they did a great job of hiding from the marketing. I was completely shocked when I realized who it was and couldn’t help but laugh seeing this character’s return. And before you ask, Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis sadly do not return in this film.
In terms of the new additions I already mentioned the great inclusion of Emily Alyn Lind but we also get some humorous performances by Kumail Nanjiani as Nadeem Razmaadi and Patton Oswalt as Dr. Hubert Wartzki. Despite their roles being small they are enjoyable as their respective characters, fully utilizing their comedy chops to deliver some good laughs that felt natural and never forced.
When it comes to ghosts we get a few returning ones, like Slimer, but we mostly get new ones that are unique in terms of looks, powers, and personality. One of these is a new ghost that can possess any inanimate objects and cause complete mayhem, making for some really entertaining scenes that are mostly done through practical effects and are really cool in execution.
But by far the most interesting and terrifying ghost among the new inclusions is the main villain who is unique in design, has a terrifying presence as well as powers, and looks fantastic, especially when he is brought to life with mainly practical effects through puppeteering. This is probably the creepiest ghost villain we have had in the franchise next to Vigo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters 2.
In a way, this film feels a bit like a live-action adaptation of the animated series The Real Ghostbusters when it comes to its narrative, though it acts mostly as a follow-up to Afterlife, with the focus being primarily on the new characters and their ongoing escapades as the new Ghostbusters. This film serves as a fairly good story involving family, whether by blood or not, as well as serves as a great story about growing up, self-discovery, and even letting go, which in a way continues and builds upon some of the themes introduced in the previous installment. It mostly succeeds in delivering entertainment in terms of humor, heart, ghost-busting investigation, and action though I will say I felt Afterlife was stronger in all of these elements.
It feels like there was a lot more this film could have done to be better and it seems like a significant amount was missing from this film as evidenced by cut scenes that appeared in the trailers but never appeared in the final product. Considering how Sony has a habit of trying to interfere with their films I wouldn’t be surprised if this was their doing.
It also feels like this film was meant to be tonally darker in comparison to previous installments but doesn’t fully commit to it and opts for playing it safe, which is unfortunate given how much risk Afterlife took in comparison. I am not sure if this was a decision made by director Gil Kenan or Sony but I feel like this film should have been allowed to go all out with the potential of its premise.
And yes much like Afterlife this has some fun callbacks to the original films though not as many as one may expect. For me, they came mostly in small doses and they served mostly as a loving tribute to the late Ivan Reitman.
The technical elements of this film are done really well and feel almost on par with the technical elements of the previous installment. There does appear to be more CGI used in this film in certain amounts but there was a surprising amount of practical effects, sequences, sets, and puppeteering used throughout the film and all of it looks amazing, making this visually one of the best films in the franchise next to Afterlife in terms of effects and cinematography. Some of the most notable uses of practical effects I noticed were with the ghosts Slimer and the main villain that I mentioned earlier. They actually use a puppet for Slimer like they did for the original films which felt so nostalgic and was visually pleasing to see over the full CGI monstrosity that was in the 2016 film. And even when there is CGI present all of it looks visually great to me.
This film also features some great sound design, editing, and transitions that enhance various elements of the film as a whole. The score by Dario Marianelli is also fun and solid, featuring both familiar themes and new tracks that are fitting for the world of Ghostbusters, though again I feel I preferred Afterlife’s score more.
This film definitely could have been a lot more than it was but I did find it enjoyable despite its faults and it certainly isn’t the “disaster of a sequel” that some critics will try to make it sound like. I personally believe that fans of the original films and Afterlife are going to like this film overall and consider it a decent follow-up that honors what came before, while having its own fun offerings. Give it a go and see what you think! I’m going to give Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire a B = 86.
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