“When there is something strange in your neighborhood, who are you going to call? Ghostbusters!” That theme song has been a staple of the pop culture zeitgeist ever since the release of the original “Ghostbusters” film in the summer of 1984. In the 40 years since, “Ghostbusters” has made a name for itself as a beloved movie franchise.
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is the latest addition to the franchise, serving as a sequel to “Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021).” Unfortunately, while “Afterlife” revived fan enthusiasm for the franchise, “Frozen Empire” does not do any favors as it attempts to bring both the original and the new Ghostbusters casts together for a less than thrilling ghost busting adventure.
The main plot of the movie involves an ice ghost escaping from his capture as he seeks to conquer the world, the basic movie plotline movie goers have seen so many times already. Except it has two different teams of Ghostbusters working together to bust this ghost. Some may think this would make for an interesting storyline with a growing dynamic between the old and the new Ghostbusters. However, the biggest problem that “Frozen Empire” dramatically fails to bust is that there are so many other plotlines and characters it wants to tackle that there is no focusing on the main one. There are so many side plots going on alongside the main plot that they end up either factoring into nothing, or they make the main plot less and less interesting to watch as the movie progresses.
An example of a plotline that has nothing going for it involves Trevor, one of the new Ghostbusters. The only memorable thing he does throughout the whole movie is attempting to catch Slimer, a green slimy ghost from the original movie. The only thing that plotline has going for it is nostalgia with Slimer but that is literally it.
Another plotline that was really hard to watch was the whole subplot with Kumail Nanjiani’s character. Not to give away any spoilers, but they essentially set him up to be more important than the titular Ghostbusters to the main plot as he has a connection with the ice ghost. However, he is not a particularly good character, as he is unbearable to watch, and he provides terrible humor for the movie. Watching this guy develop to be able to fight off the ice ghost rather than the titular Ghostbusters in action became very tedious.
Phoebe, another one of the new Ghostbusters, does have an interesting plotline where she is benched from being a Ghostbuster because she is a minor. Sadly though, that plotline quickly gets overshadowed with her meeting a ghost named Melody who is important for the plot but has nothing else character wise that is developed or interesting. Phoebe and Melody do bond, but in a way where the writers could not decide if they were becoming friends or something more. It was utterly bizarre and that is not even half of what happens.
There are over 15 main characters in this movie between the old and new Ghostbusters along with Nanjiani, Melody, the ice ghost and several others. That is too many characters that are battling for screen time and development throughout a runtime that is under two hours. It is really unfortunate because a bunch of the characters the film follows are either unlikeable, not a Ghostbuster, or both, while the Ghostbusters themselves end up pushed to the side as things happen around them. The original cast is only there for nostalgic bait and the new Ghostbusters are forced to have their movie possessed by characters that are there for the plot but do not contribute anything that is enjoyable to watch. This movie’s entertainment value is spread way too thin by the outrageous number of characters, badly plotted subplots, cringey humor and only a couple of scenes that have actual ghost busting. That is how much time is wasted in this movie.
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” should be added to the list of legacy sequels that did not aim to tell an interesting story but, instead, set out to cash in on their audience’s nostalgia. It tells a completely nonsensical story that does not have the ghost busting making me feel good. Perhaps some fans of the original movies might have fun with this one but, as a casual viewer, this movie left viewer much to be desired.
