“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” released on March 22, 2024, is a continuation of the original Ghostbusters films, with the focus being on Egon Spengler’s family, specifically Phoebe Spengler, Egon’s granddaughter. The film included the original Ghostbusters, played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson. In the previous continuation, we only saw the originals at the very end, as well as some closure for Egon, played by Harold Ramis, who passed away.
Egon was limitedly referenced in the most recent film considering his character already got closure and the actor is no longer alive. This film had a good amount of fan service by including some nostalgic elements, occasionally in a forced manner. The primary way this was done was by bringing the original Ghostbusters all back to Manhattan. All of the main characters from the previous film found themselves back in New York, although bringing them all there separately was less than believable. They also introduced a new comedic relief character, the fire master whose previously unknown ability of fire bending was necessary to defeat the main villain and ice master. The audience was also introduced to another new character who occupies most of Phoebe’s focus.
We sadly didn’t get as many paranormal science references, which makes sense considering Phoebe, the current main scientist, was preoccupied with her new friend, and Egon was absent from the film. Venkman, played by Murray, was in the film more often than in the previous one and was able to sneak in some comedic lines and scenes.
There were a lot of characters who seemed unnecessary with their presence making little difference to the plot. Many elements seemed forced. Maintaining characters from the last film as well as the characters from the original films, all while introducing three new characters, was chaotic.
The plot was also a bit shaky. The characters needed to find and train the fire master to fight Garraka, despite the fire master ultimately doing what any flamethrower lying around could do just as effectively. Audiences see some character development from Phoebe, but she felt like a completely different character with a lot of her other quirks being present in the first scene, but seemingly absent from the rest of the film. As for her brother Trevor, we saw some natural changes such as him trying to prove he’s an adult by handling things himself and yearning to be given more responsibility and trust due to his age. I think his character development in this film was good and natural.
I enjoyed the nostalgic references to the original films, which brought back certain beloved characters as well as very much hated characters (I’m looking at you, Peck). Some of the references could be considered too obvious as compared to the previous films’ more subtle references (my favorite being the Twinkie wrapper in Egon’s suit). Considering the number of main characters involved in this film, it’s difficult to develop each character, but I think they did a good job of showing development for nearly all of them.
There is a focus on Paul Rudd’s character, Gary, as he learns where his place is as a stepdad to Trevor and Phoebe, as well as in their relationship with him. I really liked these familial developments as it can be easy to overlook, but this film chose to focus on it. While Phoebe’s development was a bit at the expense of some of her more interesting and likable traits from the first film, it made sense in terms of moving the plot along and giving her a realistic issue considering her age.
Overall, it was an entertaining movie that included new characters and new developments. It had several references to the original films, including three of the main four original Ghostbusters. While it was a good movie, I would still give it a 4-star rating. The original film is perfect and the second film is not nearly as good, but has the original Ghostbusters and a good story, while the third is a fresh start for the franchise with new characters and stories, with this most recent film serving as a less exciting continuation of that. The plot was shakier and had too much going on considering the number of characters they carried over and added.