Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is the best Ghostbusters film since 1989. Jason Reitman and director Gil Kenan took a risk by remixing the Ghostbusters series as a family drama with Afterlife, but Frozen Empire feels like the proper pay off for doing so.

I have a complex relationship with the Ghostbusters franchise. I grew up watching the original two films and the edgy 90’s cartoon Extreme Ghostbusters. I loathed the 2016 reboot and was excited by the prospect of 2021’s Afterlife but was let down by that film’s inability to let go of the past. Truth be told, I was entirely unsure how I would feel about Frozen Empire given its unfocused marketing focusing on the old Ghostbusters crew suiting up again.

Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed Frozen Empire. In fact, I’m willing to go as far to say it fixes nearly every issue I had with Afterlife and even the 2016 reboot. Which by default makes it the best Ghostbusters film since 1989.

Frozen Empire follows the Spengler family from the previous film living in New York City working the revived Ghostbusting business. Every single major character from Afterlife is back in Frozen Empire in some capacity, but the film once again focuses on Phoebe Spengler (McKenna Grace) and her coming to terms with growing up and finding her place in this new life that she and her family have adopted. It’s the familiar setting from the original films combined with the new family drama focus from Afterlife that works surprisingly well here.

Where Afterlife used a new premise and setting to rehash old ideas and villains from the original, Frozen Empire uses the familiar setting as an avenue to explore new villains, characters, and lore. It’s far less nostalgia bait and in a way feels like the proper “Ghostbusters 3” instead of feeling like a strange sidestory like Afterlife ultimately did. Frozen Empire makes an effort to expand the world with the introduction of a new HQ, and engineering division of the Ghostbusters, as well as new gadgets. It lays the foundation for the future instead of being a “remember this” easter egg prop hunt like the previous film was.

Over the course of the film, Phoebe and her family are investigating a mysterious artifact that holds an ancient evil that forces them to cross paths with a bevy of new and old characters alike. While series mainstays such as Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson return in a larger capacity than in Afterlife, there are newcomers played by Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, and James Acaster. 

If that sounds like a large cast that’s because it is. We’re reaching Avengers: Endgame levels of main cast, which feels very strange to say about a Ghostbusters films. In numerous ways I felt like some character could’ve been condensed into other members of the main cast. For example: Patton Oswalt’s linguist character has a purpose that could’ve been filled by Aykroyd’s character and the film would’ve been the same. Other characters such as Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor or Logan Kim’s Podcast could’ve been left out of the film entirely as they feel pointless in the grand design of the story being told.

That’s not to say that some new additions aren’t standouts. Kumail Nanjiani ends up scoring most of the film’s laughs and brings an interesting mystical element to the universe that I would love to see explored in the future. The MVP of the film is Melody played by Emily Alyn Lind. You see Melody is a ghost who becomes friends with Phoebe and over the course of the film their friendship goes from one of pure curiosity to one of romantic connotations almost (bisexual lighting included). This stands out to me in the way the human/ghost interactions in the franchise have been pretty black & white in that ghosts are bad and humans are good. Frozen Empire shakes up this formula by hinting that there’s more to the relationship between the dead and the living than what has been told to us before. I hope this is explored even more in the future.

Eventually Frozen Empire draws to a close in a predictable but enjoyable fashion. Ghostbusters teams new and old team up to take down the big bad villain (that thankfully isn’t Gozer) and everyone gets their happy ending. It’s nothing profound but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the drama and interactions that act as the rising action to the climax. Jason Reitman and director Gil Kenan took a risk by remixing the Ghostbusters series as a family drama with Afterlife, but Frozen Empire feels like the proper pay off for doing so. If we’re to get more films in this franchise, there’s a strong foundation going forward if they can somehow streamline the character roster and focus on the elements from both films that work well.

Grade: B-

Oscar Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: None

Where to Watch: In Theaters