REVIEW: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Tries To Get The Franchise Back On The Ghost Busting Track
It has been forty years since the Ghostbusters answered their very first call in the big city lights of New York City. After a small stint in the dust fields of Oklahoma, the ragtag team of ghost hunters have finally returned home to the Big Apple in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The fifth film in the paranormal franchise opens with viewers back in 1904 Manhattan as firefighters stumble upon a room full of frozen men in the sweltering heat of July, and the only survivor holding a mysterious bronze orb.
Fast forward to the present day, and viewers follow as the Spengler family, Callie (Carrie Coon), Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), hurl through the streets of New York City, on the hunt for Hell’s Kitchen Sewer Dragon. After a successful, yet destructive, catch, the family is brought before Mayor Walter Peck (William Atherton), whom fans of the series will recognize fairly quickly, who immediately sees Phoebe as a liability and threatens to shut the Ghostbusters down if she continues hunting down ghosts. But the Spengler family have bigger issues to deal with than Peck’s threat, and Phoebe’s nonstop teenage angst, when original Ghostbuster Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) brings them ia mysterious bronze orb. Originally brought to him by Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani), an aimless man who found it cleaning out his grandmother’s apartment, viewers quickly learn that the mysterious object is the orb of Garraka. A monster known to destroy civilizations with the “death chill”, better known as frozen fear, this orb can be used to bring back the monstrous villain. With Garraka’s return now looming on the horizon, the Ghostbusters old and new will need to team up and bring all their ghost busting powers together if they hope to save their world from an icy demise.
Where Afterlife focused on the science fiction of it all, Frozen Empire tried to bring back the laughs. Yes, the science fiction is still there, hence a fun back and forth scene on the history of the orb of Garraka by Stantz and a librarian (Patton Oswalt) at the New York City Public Library. But fans of the original films remember those films mainly because of the laughs, not because of the science fiction. Because of this, Writer and Director Gil Kenan and co-writer Jason Reitman, attempt to capitalize on this factor in this new movie. Is it completely successful…no, but Murray’s unpredictability, Nanjiani’s near perfect comedic timing, Coon’s dry delivery, and Rudd’s down home comedic charm sure do help the case.
The biggest downsize to having a cast this large is someone’s story or development is innately going to be left on the sidelines to focus on someone else or something else. In the case of Frozen Empire, it was every character, but Phoebe who disappear into the background. The story focuses immensely on Phoebe and the difficulties she is having with her family and the budding feelings she has for Melody. The wrtiers aren’t able to craft this story without everyone else getting lost in translation. Trevor, Lucky (Celeste O’Connor), and newcomer Lars (James Acaster) could have been left out of the film entirely and no one would have noticed, where as Callie and Gary are used as sole plot pieces to move Phoebe’s anger towards her family forward. It can be difficult at times to watch because there are brief moments throughout the movie where the screenwriters could have expanded for more paranormal building or comedic relief. Trevor’s desire to be seen as an adult, or his on-going battle with Slimer, or Gary and Callie’s relationship, or even Phoebe and Callie’s relationship, were all things that could have been expanded on to make for an even more enjoyable film.
Negativity aside, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a fun film for the family. It has laughs, family bonding, and a touch of spookiness, all the things that make for a fun family outing. Plus, it was nice to see the old crew back together for one more ride.
Grade: B-