I personally believe the original Ghostbusters is the greatest comedy of all time. True lightning in a bottle that was due to a number of factors, with the main ones being the chemistry between the cast, the setting, the innovative special effects, and the wonderfully wry screenplay that tied it all together.
Afterlife was an okay attempt to bring the series into the modern age, however it fell into the "soft reboot" trap of excessive fan service and heavily rehashing the story of the first film to the detriment of its own identity in the franchise.
Frozen Empire gives fans something more along the lines of what they really wanted from a long-belated sequel: new ghosts, new gadgets, lots of Dan Aykroyd and improved integration of the rest of the OG cast with some genuinely fun Murray moments.
The setting is back in NYC as it should be (albeit CGI faked for the most part), which was sorely missing from the previous attempt. As a result, it feels much more like a proper Ghostbusters film this time around.
However, it is messy and overstuffed with pointless/cringe characters, leaving the screenplay to desperately justify their presence to a ridiculous degree toward the end. There's questionable story logic (especially concerning why some characters from Afterlife are present in NYC), and your mileage may vary when it comes to the teen/family drama. Then, the villain is rushed and everything wraps up too quickly... not to mention the over reliance on CG... but in spite of all these gripes I was less offended overall than expected.
If you're not a fan of the franchise, Frozen Empire won't win you over, but if you are, there's a lot to like here, in particular the mostly respectful treatment of the legacy characters. It certainly could have been far worse... and yes, we've seen far worse in recent times.
If they can keep the original cast coming back, I'd be happy to watch another one of these.
Afterlife was an okay attempt to bring the series into the modern age, however it fell into the "soft reboot" trap of excessive fan service and heavily rehashing the story of the first film to the detriment of its own identity in the franchise.
Frozen Empire gives fans something more along the lines of what they really wanted from a long-belated sequel: new ghosts, new gadgets, lots of Dan Aykroyd and improved integration of the rest of the OG cast with some genuinely fun Murray moments.
The setting is back in NYC as it should be (albeit CGI faked for the most part), which was sorely missing from the previous attempt. As a result, it feels much more like a proper Ghostbusters film this time around.
However, it is messy and overstuffed with pointless/cringe characters, leaving the screenplay to desperately justify their presence to a ridiculous degree toward the end. There's questionable story logic (especially concerning why some characters from Afterlife are present in NYC), and your mileage may vary when it comes to the teen/family drama. Then, the villain is rushed and everything wraps up too quickly... not to mention the over reliance on CG... but in spite of all these gripes I was less offended overall than expected.
If you're not a fan of the franchise, Frozen Empire won't win you over, but if you are, there's a lot to like here, in particular the mostly respectful treatment of the legacy characters. It certainly could have been far worse... and yes, we've seen far worse in recent times.
If they can keep the original cast coming back, I'd be happy to watch another one of these.