Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire movie review (2024) | Roger Ebert (2024)

Like Slimer shoving snacks inhis ravenous maw,“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”tries to cram way too many characters,storylinesand iconic images intoitstwo-hour runtime.

Director Gil Kenan’s filmdoes a vaguely better job of balancing the old and the new than its predecessor, “Ghostbusters:Afterlife.”It finesses the fan servicein a way that the 2021 reboot/legacyquel/whatever you want to call it did not, offeringfamiliar images and bits of dialoguein breezier fashion while also moving these characters, and this story, in a slightly different direction.

Kenan (“Monster House,” “A Boy Called Christmas”)takes over directing duties from Jason Reitman, son ofthe late, legendaryIvan Reitman, director of the original1984“Ghostbusters”andto whom this film is dedicated.Kenan and Reitman once again co-wrote the script.There are morelaughs to be had here, mostly thanks to Paul Rudd and Patton Oswalt showing up and being their reliably likable selves.But this new series of “Ghostbusters” movies continues tostrayfarfrom thescrappy,anarchic vibe of the series’origins, instead offeringweightieremotional stakesand a misplaced reverencefor franchise lore.

The remaining stars of the 1984 megahit return in hopes of remindingus ofwhat we loved about that movie as kids. Bill Murraysaunters in and makes a few blasé quipsasVenkman. Dan Aykroyd spews rapid-fire scientific jargonas Stantz.Ernie Hudson is the voice of reasonasZeddemore,who hasestablishedhisownhigh-tech paranormal investigation lab.Andit’sapleasure to see Annie Pottscome backas the sweetly sarcastic Janine.Those belovedfiguresfrom 40 years ago mustsharethe screenwiththe descendants of Spengler:Carrie Coon’sCallie, her science-whiz daughter,Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), and her perpetually annoyed son, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, who barely gets anything to do).Thankfully, “Frozen Empire” refrains from trotting out Hologram Harold Ramis again in the name of shameless tearjerking.

Rudd, whom we previously saw asOklahomascience teacher GaryGrooberson, has now joined the Spenglerfamilyin NewYork City as fellow Ghostbuster/stepfather figure.They’vetaken over thehistoricfirehouse and are now zooming around in theoldEcto-1, chasingspectral creatures with thenew,high-tech gear Phoebe has crafted.The opening chase scene is admittedly a lot of fun, offering genuine thrills as well as sufficiently snappy banter. But the rest of the movie never matches that level of energy or enjoyment.

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” gets bogged down in the mythology of an ancient, evilmonster,who’saccidentally freed from the metal orb in which it had been imprisoned.(The visual effects in depicting him aresubstantial, making him a legitimately fearsome figure.)The threatof a permanent ice age in which decades of captured ghosts wouldburstfreeandwreak havoc upon Manhattan (and parts of Queens) looms large.But the logic of how all thisdestructionmightoccur, and what Kumail Nanjiani’s character couldpossibly doto stop it,remainsneedlessly complicated.It’salso the leastcompelling element of “Frozen Empire,” but it doesprovidethe opportunity for a welcome cameo from Oswalt as an ancient language expert at the New York Public Library.He’sa breath of fresh air in thisoften-self-serious setting, so much so thatyou’llwishthey’dbuild a whole “Ghostbusters” movie around him.Meanwhile, Coon—one of the most deeply talented and versatileactressesworking today—is woefully underused once again as the no-nonsense mom trying to hold it all together.

Instead, much of the moviefollows a heavier route with Phoebe,who’sprohibited from busting ghosts becauseshe’sonly 15, despite being the most brilliant and resourceful of them all.Lonely and bored, she wanders into Washington Square Park to play chess by herself one night; there, shestrikesup an unexpected friendship with a teenage ghost namedMelody (Emily Alyn Lind), who died in a fire but is stuck in a purgatory that prevents her from joining the rest of her family.The two share a crackling chemistry, ifyou’llpardon the pun, andpossibly more.There’san obvious flirtation between these characters, butthe filmdoesn’thave the courage of its convictions to allow an actual romance toblossombetween them.

“Frozen Empire” seems more interested in the wacky antics of the miniature Stay-PuftMarshmallow Men, who are even more Minion-like than ever this time, and in celebrating the cultural phenomenon of the “Ghostbusters”franchise as a whole. Once again, this is a movie thatrepeatedlyacknowledges that the Ray Parker Jr. theme song was a massive radio and MTVhit40 years ago, even goingso far asto include a bit of theoriginalmusic video.Butwe’dall be better off singing a different tune at this point.