Quick Thoughts on “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”
A Shorter Review by Victor DeBonis
“Frozen Empire” is a movie that does have some good moments and even hilarious ones. Whenever Paul Rudd is on screen, he leans into his laid-back charisma and wit, and, although his attempted arc as someone learning to be a father leaves much to be desired in terms of development, he is believable as someone eager for a firmer connection to his possible, official family. He gets many of the best comedic lines, and he takes full advantage of them with his snarky delivery.
McKenna Grace maintains the same level of awkward charm and sheer intelligence, and she is great at making a seriously voiced line sound funny with her straightforward reaction to a weird situation. Franchise newcomer Kumail Nanjiani also earns a few strong laughs from his quick delivery and superb timing.
I also appreciate the film having a feel of the “Ghostbusters” cartoon in a few scenes. Similar to that show, there are the times of the busters going to a library to learn about a monster or demon and trying to follow the trail of something spooky. The backstory to the main villain (delivered with admirable zeal by Patton Oswalt in a small role that he enthusiastically embraces) is intriguing and creatively presented with its animation.
On paper, this sounds as though this should be a slam dunk (slam bust?) for a movie from this franchise.
One of the problems comes from an all-too-familiar problem with many movies or shows tracing their roots from something more popular from a decade or two ago: It tries too hard to remind its audience of the original (and still best) film in not-so-clever ways.
Here’s a shot of Akroyd being freaked out again by the library ghost framed in a very similar way. Here’s the camera panning straight to Murray (looking far more tired than genuinely enthusiastic to be here) reaching for the bottle he had from the first film. The movie’s humor screeches to a halt when it repeatedly tries to remind the audience of where this franchise’s success began without fitting it more into the story.
To add to the confusing feel of this movie, way too many characters are fighting for time and arcs never truly finding their way off the ground. There is one arc in which Rudd’s girlfriend is pushing him to act as a father would for his probable future, but it only pops up again out of the blue near the third act. Finn Wolfhard has a couple of funny scenes, but his presence is greatly minimized here, so we barely know much about him in this movie aside from his character being 18 and him greatly wanting to drive.
Akroyd and Hudson are fun to see again, but the script doesn’t do anything memorable or funny with their characters. They have a quick disagreement about trying to not live in the “golden days” of busting ghosts when the movie is obviously going to have them do their duties again without any serious exploration of where they are now. Even William Atherton, who can play an egotistical, snooty jerk in his sleep, brings some of his character’s meanness but also seems a little weary as he sits in his chair and doesn’t feel as threatening or say anything funny. The cameos in this film are strange in their placement and the dwindled sense of enthusiasm surrounding them.
Maybe, the most unsatisfying arc of the movie comes from Grace’s character. Her individual storyline of feeling left out from the family, due to her not yet being an adult, is meant to serve as the heartfelt section of the film, but she doesn’t seem that angry about the situation. A brief moment happens in which she plays chess alone in the park, which is admittedly not a bad idea, but I never felt any real tension from her about her situation or even between her and her family. In movies, such as many of Spielberg’s and “The Millers versus the Machines” I care about the division between the family and want to see it resolved because those films do a great job of examining what the family was like in their happier past times and plainly explores the painful place in where they’re at, right now.
I admittedly got a good laugh here and there, but, if this film franchise is going to return and make busting feel amusing and fun, it needs to not overly rely on nostalgia and do better with the heart of its characters and its story development.
Grade: C