Review | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire movie review – Paul Rudd, Mckenna Grace and Bill Murray converge in overstuffed fifth outing in supernatural comedy series
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire sees the old and new ghostbusting teams don their proton packs once more to defeat supernatural forces – but it is all a bit much
- The film, packed with fan service, has too many suiting up in a story that becomes increasingly chaotic the longer it goes on – but there are some funny moments
3/5 stars
This fifth instalment of the Ghostbusters franchise starts with an elegant quote from Robert Frost, which is about the last time this overstuffed script gets poetic.
The Spengler family – Callie (Carrie Coon), her kids Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and new partner Gary (Paul Rudd) – have moved to New York and are now living their best ghostbusting lives in the old firehouse where the original team trapped all paranormal activity. Except that the containment unit that houses all the ghouls is on its last legs.
There are bigger problems: Phoebe has been banished from the ghostbusting business by Mayor Peck (William Atherton) after a disastrous and destructive attempt to capture a sewer-occupying ghost dragon.
Then there is a powerful brass orb, containing a force that can seemingly freeze all that touches it, that has fallen into the hands of former Ghostbuster Dr Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) after a chancer (Kumail Nanjiani) sells it to him.
Oh, and there is a 16-year-old ghost named Melody (Emily Alyn Lind) who has ulterior motives for befriending Phoebe.
