![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Ghostbusters-Frozen-Empire-.jpg?resize=620%2C348&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (supernatural action\/violence, language, suggestive references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Gil Kenan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dario Marianelli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Eric Steelberg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 22, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O\u2019Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, James Acaster, Emily Alyn Lind.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0It\u2019s hard to believe the original Ghostbusters came out 40 years ago. That\u2019s more than half a lifetime ago for me, but I can still remember how excited I was to finally see it after months of anticipation. I couldn\u2019t muster up the same enthusiasm for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong>. I felt only lukewarm indifference as I waited for the fifth installment of the series to get underway. I didn\u2019t see the point in getting my hopes up for another entry in a series that passed its expiration date shortly after the second movie in 1989. I was right to follow my instincts. It left me cold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0My biggest problem with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong> is the same as the previous film Afterlife. It isn\u2019t funny. The big laughs just aren\u2019t there. At best, it\u2019s sporadically amusing. This is a far, far cry from the OG movie starring the power trio of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis (RIP). The comic energy was absolutely palpable. The awesome supporting cast- Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts- helped greatly. I wasn\u2019t feeling it in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong>. If I had to put a label on it, it\u2019s more of a family drama with elements of comedy and horror mixed in. Sadly, it\u2019s a mixture that ultimately falls flat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The main plot concerns a mysterious bronze orb containing an angry ancient spirit looking to wreak supernatural havoc on the world. The who, what and why doesn\u2019t really matter. Like the team\u2019s other cases, it\u2019s a bunch of numinous nonsense.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The heart and soul of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong> is Mckenna Grace (Young Sheldon) reprising her role as Phoebe, the genius granddaughter of founding Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (the late Ramis). Now 15, the smart but socially awkward teen is upset about being suspended from her ghost busting duties due to her age. It seems the mayor isn\u2019t happy about their latest spectral escapade, a wild chase through the crowded streets of the city that endangered lives and caused a lot of property damage. He\u2019s out to get them anyway. He has a grudge dating back 40 years. Somehow, former EPA investigator Walter Peck (Atherton, Die Hard) got himself elected mayor of New York City. He\u2019s still a complete bureaucratic bastard.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Head g-buster and mom Callie (Coon, The White Lotus) is the one that decides to bench Phoebe until she\u2019s of legal age. Understandably angry and hurt, she sneaks off by herself one night to play chess in the park. She finds an opponent in Melody (Lind, Gossip Girl), a teenage ghost who plays a pretty mean game herself. Never mind that she\u2019s had lots of time to practice. A friendship grows between the two teens from different planes of existence. Could it be Phoebe has found her soulmate? We\u2019ll never know because director Gil Kenan (Monster House) decides not to go there.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0In any event, Phoebe\u2019s story arc is the best part of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong>. The rest is mostly meh, especially and most disappointingly the cast, new and old alike. While it\u2019s good to see the old gang back in action, the magic is all but gone. Murray comes off as indifferent, showing up to deliver a few quips and fight alongside his comrades one more time. Aykroyd shows a little more life as Ray Stantz, now the host of an occult-themed podcast. He has a good scene at the New York Public Library where he encounters a familiar apparition. Potts more or less does her thing. So does Hudson. Atherton, your go-to actor for smug, bastardly characters in the 80s, hasn\u2019t lost a step. In one of the best callbacks to the OG, somebody in a crowd shouts a certain term that begins with d and ends with less.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I\u2019m not impressed with the new-ish cast members. I get that it\u2019s time to pass the torch to the next generation with the OG g-busters well past retirement age. I accept that it would be impossible to find a group of comic actors as awesome as Bill, Dan and Harold. That kind of chemistry is rare. I don\u2019t see any of it among the newbies in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong>. Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) is rather bland as the boyfriend trying to step into the stepdad role. Coon is underused as the no-BS mother trying to hold everything together and having a hard time of it. Wolfhard (Stranger Things), back as older brother Trevor, gets little to do outside a few icky encounters with Slimer. Nanjiani (The Big Sick) is little more than a less-annoying replacement for Moranis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Never mind all that. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong> absolutely belongs to Grace. Her deadpan delivery of her dialogue is spot-on. She also perfectly captures the angst that goes with being at an age where nobody sees you as an adult yet. She might not be on the job per se, but that doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s not working. This kid has spunk, spirit and smarts. Grace makes it work! It helps that her character closely resembles her grandfather.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The effects in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong> are surprisingly good. Sure, it\u2019s CGI, but the film never resembles a video game. That\u2019s a plus. The little Stay-Puft marshmallow guys are cool. Maybe they should get their own Minions-like spin-off flick. It\u2019s a shame the rest of it is such a letdown although I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the right word since I wasn\u2019t expecting much to begin with. That\u2019s not to say Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire<\/strong> is awful. It\u2019s not, not really. It\u2019s watchable at times, but it mostly falls flat. The mid-credits scene isn\u2019t even that interesting. In the end, it\u2019s just another legacy sequel that concerns itself too much with providing fan service and not enough with finding a consistent comic rhythm. If only we could go back 40 years.<\/p>\r\n Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (supernatural action\/violence, language, suggestive references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Gil Kenan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dario Marianelli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Eric Steelberg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 22, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O\u2019Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Ghostbusters-Frozen-Empire-.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1035,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions\/1035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Ghostbusters-Frozen-Empire-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C918&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"