GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE movie poster | ©2024 Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures

Rating: PG-13
Stars: Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Kumail Nanjiani, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Bill Murray, Celeste O’Connor, James Acaster, Logan Kim, William Atherton, Patton Oswalt
Writers: Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman, based on the 1984 film GHOSTBUSTERS, directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis
Director: Gil Kenan
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Release Date: March 21, 2024

When GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE arrived in theatres in November of 2021, it was something of a tonal oddity. Yes, all of the original Ghostbusters eventually showed up, but it felt less like GHOSTBUSTERS and more like a YA entry, one of the films Steven Spielberg produced but didn’t direct back in the ‘80s.

Good news for fans of the original 1984 GHOSTBUSTERS and even 1989’s GHOSTBUSTERS II – the new film GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE feels much more like those two movies than it does like its immediate predecessor.

This is even with the main characters from GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE retaining center stage. The Spengler family – single mom Callie, eighteen-year-old Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and neurodivergent fifteen-year-old genius Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), plus Callie’s boyfriend, former teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) – have relocated from Oklahoma to be Ghostbusters in Manhattan. The city feels like an essential returning player.

Former Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), now a tycoon, has given these new Ghostbusters funding, along with the keys to the old Ghostbusters firehouse headquarters.

Meanwhile, Winston’s fellow ex-Ghostbuster Ray Stantz collects and studies objects and artifacts that may be connected to the spirit world. Ray comes into possession of an ancient orb that houses an especially powerful, nasty demigod. As the saying goes, if you show an ancient orb in the first act …

While GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE is a bit less anarchistic than the ‘80s editions, it has a healthy sense of energy, a wide variety of ghosts and other spectral critters, and a pretty buoyant tone. There are a couple of nods to family drama in the screenplay by director Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman (they both wrote AFTERLIFE as well, which Reitman directed), but this doesn’t slow down the works here the way it did last time.

Kumail Nanjiani turns up as a character whose plot function and humor both become crucial to the goings-on. Nanjiani’s timing is expert, and he appears so delighted to be in this movie that if in fact he isn’t, he’s an even better actor than we think.

As before, Grace is a powerful performer, grounding everything she does with conviction. Coons and Rudd provide topnotch support. Aykroyd gets to be more avuncular than obsessive in this installment, and Hudson is the embodiment of benevolent wealth.

Bill Murray arrives, as promised, and his Peter Venkman is largely unchanged. It’s good to see GHOSTBUSTERS veteran Annie Potts get to suit up, and William Atherton reprises his role as the Ghostbusters’ primary human adversary. Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim are back from AFTERLIFE, and Emily Alyn Lind, James Acaster and Patton Oswalt all deliver as new characters.

There are inventive creatures and gags throughout GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE, as well as exposition delivered via sand sculpture. If there aren’t moments of outright terror, the primary menace is still properly imposing.

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE doesn’t have the novelty of the first GHOSTBUSTERS – that would be difficult, forty years later – but it does have a sense of real fun that it shares with the audience.

Related: Movie Review: THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROS
Related: Movie Review: KUNG FU PANDA 4
Related: Movie Review: IMAGINARY
Related: Movie Review: NIGHT SHIFT
Related: Movie Review: T-BLOCKERS
Related: Movie Review: DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS
Related: Movie Review: CELLPHONE
Related: Movie Review: NO WAY UP
Related: Movie Review: LISA FRANKENSTEIN
Related: Movie Review: OUT OF DARKNESS
Related: Movie Review: ARGYLLE
Related: Movie Review: DEPARTING SENIORS
Related: Movie Review:MILLER’S GIRL
Related: Movie Review: CULT KILLER
Related: Movie Review: THANKSGIVING
Related: Movie Review: HELLHOUNDS
Related: Movie Review: SUNRISE
Related: Movie Review: MEAN GIRLS
Related: Movie Review: NIGHT SWIM
Related: Movie Review: MAESTRO

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE

Related Posts: