March 25, 2024 · Watch the official trailer
Movie studios attempt to capture nostalgia in order to bring people of different generations together and ultimately to make a profit.
This could be for the continuation of a long-forgotten franchise, remaking a classic from decades earlier or taking a pairing of actors who have not worked together for long periods of time and bringing them back together for one last ride.
Sony Pictures continues to try and recapture the magic of the classic 1980s horror comedy “Ghostbusters” series with a revitalization of the franchise made famous by former “Saturday Night Live” stars Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis. The second iteration of this canonical offspring “Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire” debuted this past weekend to middling fanfare.
The film which finds McKenna Grace as the franchise’s youngest Ghostbuster moving to New York City to take over the famed Ghostbusters building with her family. When a mysterious orb that hides the secrets of an ancient Asian phantasm is unleashed on the city, Phoebe, her family, and the original Ghostbusters must team up to protect themselves and the outside world from the supernatural.
Grace is quirky and heartwarming as the granddaughter of the late Ramis’ Egon Spangler and she brings a vibrancy to the role that makes audiences want to rally behind her character in spite of the increasingly bizarre screenplay that seeks to sideline Phoebe from the action for much of the movie.
“Frozen Empire” is further proof that the young star is emerging out of simple children’s acting parts and should be considered for meaningful roles in adult dramas down the line as she brings a lot more nuance and emotion to a character who clearly doesn’t deserve it based on writer/director Gil Kenan’s script.
Equally so, the best part of the film follows Paul Rudd as the unofficial father figure of the Spangler family trying to find his place as a pseudo-parent despite a total lack of screentime or chemistry opposite Carrie Coon. Rudd’s natural ability to maintain an affable charm in spite of the mechanics of family conflict makes him the most likeable character in “Frozen Empire.”
A significant portion of the film centers around trying to make Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor less of an awkward loner and more affable by pairing him with the franchise’s most notable ghoul, Slimer, and through no fault of Wolfhard’s performance, the strange CGI rendering and unfunny situations Kenan presents for the two to interact don’t really make for compelling storytelling.
There are a number of callbacks and Easter eggs to the original “Ghostbusters” films that are uneven in their success, though one scene where Rudd’s Gary pays homage to the classic theme song is a welcome side-splitting moment.
Ackroyd and Murray along with fellow original Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson all reprise their roles in this iteration though only Ackroyd is really given anything to do and things are just forced to the point that it’s clear none of the three are having particularly much fun.
Action sequences in “Frozen Empire” are hit-and-miss thanks to spotty CGI work that Marvel film usually get critiqued for, although the final actual sequence has a bit of fun to wrap things up with.
Aside from the younger audiences unfamiliar with the 80s classic films, there’s not much to “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” that should compel cinephiles to make a trip to theaters to see Kenan’s movie on the big screen and the occasionally funny comedy is best left to an at home viewing when it releases later this year on a streaming service.
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