Review of 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire'

Following on from the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the Spenglers head up the new Ghostbusters team in the familiar fire station in New York. They get in trouble with a familiar face from the past, Walter Peck (William Atherton), who is now mayor who benches Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) when he finds she is underage. Hugely disappointed she is not allowed to join the rest of her family chasing ghosts she befriends one herself, Melody. Meanwhile Ray (Dan Aykroyd) continues to run his Voodoo shop where he buys a mysterious orb which he learns is the prison of a horned king and the person he bought it off, Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani from “Silicon Valley” fame), is the last in a line of “fire guards” assigned to keep the king at bay. The mayor is determined to shut the Ghostbusters down and all he needs is an excuse which with the Ghostbusters is only the next call out away…

This is all a lot of good fun but without much of the emotional impact of “Afterlife”. It is great to see the remaining original Ghostbusters back on the screen though, as with the first film, really only kicking ghost butt in the final few minutes. Much of the action is left to the new cast who do admirably well particularly Mckenna Grace who is the undisputed star of the show (as she was in the first film) with an undeniable charisma and, frankly, the only one who seems to be able to make sense of what is going on.

There are plenty of nods to earlier films including a return to the New York Library (with the same ghosts!) and the return of the miniature Stay Puff marshmallow men with their own cute brand of chaos. I suppose this is part of the problem here that the story line and funny elements all seem to echo the past rather than presenting anything really new, after all, we saw the old Ghostbusters at the finale of the first film, do we really need to have them suited up for the finale of this one (not really giving anything away)? Surely we should be cheering for the new guard instead? But, having said this, I did find the film quite enjoyable and very watchable. Will be interesting to see where they go next…

Another trip down nostalgia avenue as the new Ghostbusters crew do their bit to destroy bits of New York as they chase down ghosts one building at a time…

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2024-04-22

Directed by: Gil Kenan

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Year: 2024

Length: 115 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21235248/