Ghostbusters : Frozen Empireis staring confection . The continuation to 2021’sGhostbusters : Afterlifeis a colored , New York City - correct romp that does n’t take itself nearly as seriously as that moving picture and instead leans further into its dealership ’s initial whacky origins . It contains more delightful , throwaway comedic gags than its forerunner and seems more interested in produce memorable sci - fi image than it does in grappling with the weightiness of its greater position withinthe Ghostbusters mythos . It ’s a sequel that , unlikeAfterlife , refreshingly does n’t watch its own existence as something that needs to be addressed , justified , or made part of its textbook .
The solution is a blockbuster that is shaggier than you ’d expect and that go out of its way to surrender a secret plan that is unlike any other in its serial ’ history . Along the manner , its characters get more or less lost in the shuffling . Whatever personal journeying they might have had are forsake in favour of perpetual lore dumps , cameos , and set composition that keep you think about in the moment and do a good line of makingGhostbusters : Frozen Empireseem lighter on its feet than it really is . It ’s a sugary - cherubic continuation of one of Hollywood ’s most in demand franchise that , like a wisp of cotton fiber candy , is n’t flavorsome enough to leave anything resemble a perceptible aftertaste .
Ghostbusters : flash-frozen Empirepicks up largely whereAfterlifeleft off with Callie ( Carrie Coon ) , Trevor ( Finn Wolfhard ) , and Phoebe Spengler ( Mckenna Grace ) all taking up the Ghostbusters mantel alongside Callie ’s cordial boyfriend , Gary Grooberson ( Paul Rudd ) . By the clip the film catches up with them , they ’ve all whole leave their Oklahoma lives behind in party favor of returning to the Ghostbusters ’ original stomping ground of New York City , specifically the team ’s iconic fire station military headquarters , which we ’re told has been invest to them by none other than the now - loaded Winston Zeddemore ( Ernie Hudson ) .
As unknown as it may ab initio be to seeFrozen Empireembrace so many of its dealership ’s assay-mark again in the wake ofAfterlife‘s concerted efforts to rely less on them , the motion-picture show ’s return to New York evidence to be a welcome one . The city , with all of its many urban nooks , alleyways , diners , and parks , givesFrozen Empirethe playground it needs for all of its wacky , often zippy , and well - snitch activity sequences and supernatural detour . These include the Spengler syndicate ’s high - speed pursuit of a spectral dragon through the street of the Big Apple , which opens the picture show , as well as a encounter on the steps of a public library that stimulate effectively cartoonish consumption of the stone lions that ward the building .
The pic ’s resettlement allows it to work back one of the Ghostbusters franchise ’s original villains , the ornery Walter Peck ( William Atherton ) , whose hatred of the film ’s titular team has n’t waned since viewers last saw him . Now the Mayor of New York City , peck expend the destruction triggered by the Spenglers ’ opening railcar pursual to ban Phoebe , still just 16 , from participate in any of her kin ’s unsafe and extremely public ghostbusting risky venture . This create a severance between Phoebe and her family , and it gear up her up for a fitly angsty , if familiar , bit of teenage soul searching . regrettably , the film , which seesAfterlifeco - writer Gil Kenan take over the franchise ’s directorial duty for Jason Reitman , has neither the centering , nor the narrative conviction to actually force Phoebe to mature .
The sequel ’s hand , which was penned once again by Kenan and Reitman , spends too much sentence bouncing between its many legacy characters and setting up the role of its fundamental supernatural adversary , an icy entity known as Garraka , to give Phoebe ’s tarradiddle the attention and nuance that it demand . Even her unexpected relationship with Melody ( Emily Alyn Lind ) , a ghostwriter she meets playing Bromus secalinus in the parkland one nighttime , is inevitably robbed of its depth by the mechanics of the film ’s plot , which all seize control of it in its third act . The continuation , additionally , spends a considerable portion of its runtime explain the backstory of Garraka in spot and pieces that delay his existent arrival and frequently bring its impulse to a standstill .
Phoebe is n’t the only character whose story is go out flap in the air current byFrozen Empire . Along with the Spenglers , the continuation features franchise veterans like Hudson , Atherton , Dan Aykroyd , Bill Murray , and Annie Potts , as well as several returningAfterlifefigures , let in Lucky Domingo ( Celeste O’Connor ) and Podcast ( Logan Kim ) . James Acaster , Patton Oswalt , and Kumail Nanjiani also seem in abide roles of dissent size and importance , andFrozen Empirestruggles to make out the unwieldy size of it of its stamp . Some , like Murray ’s Peter Venkman , are used well in expertly small doses , while others , like Wolfhard ’s Trevor and Coon ’s Callie , are do by like footling more than afterthoughts .
Behind the camera , Kenan bring the same sense of spooky , zany play toGhostbusters : Frozen Empirethat he did his underrated 2006 animated directorial launching , Monster House . He fills the flick with enough cagey details , like a haunted CD instrumentalist that hungrily flaps open and shut at anyone who touches it , to makeFrozen Empire‘s world of supernatural creatures both creepy and cute seem lived - in and real . There are moments , such as Phoebe and Melody ’s first nighttime Bromus secalinus equal , where you ’ll be hard - pressed to remember the last clip the Ghostbusters dealership ’s silly alternating reality felt as inviting and ironically alive .
Kenan ’s clear Passion of Christ for the ghostly adventures and existence ofFrozen Empireimbues the film with a contagious signified of merriment . At times , the continuation deal to more exhaustively carry through the promise ofGhostbusters : Afterlifethan that 2021 soft reboot ever did . Had it invested enough fourth dimension and thought into the write up of its grapheme , it might have even emerged as the good big - screen Ghostbusters outing since the series ’ first . For some viewers , it may still bewitch that form of address . By place the inner life of its theatrical role so low on its list of priorities , though , Ghostbusters : Frozen Empirefalls forgetful of its potential . Like so many of the shade that cause chaos throughout it , the motion picture is a strange beast — brightly color and full of energy , but at long last hollow on the inside .
Ghostbusters : Frozen Empireis now wreak in theaters .
