Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, directed by Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist 2015), flew into theaters this past weekend, promising a bigger cast and plot, compared to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
There were so many things to be excited for in this movie. Afterlife was a fantastic return to this universe and the setting change back to New York City promised more fun and bigger set pieces. This time around, Gil Kenan takes the helm as director, replacing Jason Reitman who helped co-write this film. Overall, the trailers made this movie look like it was going to be a ton of fun. So, what did I think?
Let me first start off with what the film got right. Frozen Empire is heavily inspired by the 80’s animated tv series, which allowed the filmmakers to include some wacky and goofy moments which were a lot of fun. Just like Afterlife, Mckenna Grace proves once again that she is the best addition to this franchise. While her emotional journey isn’t quite as impactful as in Afterlife, the story was still one worth telling. It was also nice seeing a lot of the original Ghostbusters back for this film in a larger role, especially Dan Akroyd who probably has the most screentime of the original cast members.
Another thing that I appreciated in this film was a fresh new villain. The villain this time around is unique and terrifying, even if the buildup to him took a little too long. Frozen Empire also includes entirely new characters played by Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, and James Acaster. Every one of these actors is a lot of fun in the film, but several of them just seemed like an unnecessary addition, which leads to the negatives of the movie.
Frozen Empire is just overstuffed with characters, storylines, and ideas. Already in this review I mentioned a lot of the movie’s characters, but that was maybe like half of them. There are so many characters in this movie that it’s very difficult to feel attached to any of them because we never spend enough time with one character. If they removed like two of the new characters, it would have allowed more time to spend with the original ghostbusters, who felt like they showed up just to collect a paycheck. I was looking forward to spending more time with the original cast, but the only ones I would say have an integral role in the story are Dan Akroyd and maybe Ernie Hudson. Bill Murry shows up for like two scenes in the middle and the final battle at the end.
The film also introduces so many new ideas, that the plot becomes very convoluted. The movie would introduce a very interesting idea which I thought was cool, and then five minutes later it would introduce another interesting idea, and then it would introduce another interesting idea, and it just becomes way too much. I wish they just chose like one or two so they could flesh these ideas out more, because at the end it just felt like they could have done so much more with certain ideas. Overall, the film was missing the heart and emotion that made Afterlife unique.
All the negatives aside, I still think Frozen Empire is a solid addition to the franchise even if it’s the weakest. Paul Rudd is a lot of fun in the movie and there are some very entertaining sequences. I still think this movie is worth checking out and I do hope they continue this franchise because there are so many ways they can take the story. Overall, while far from perfect, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a fun time at the movies, which is why we go to the movies in the first place. To have fun.