Delightful 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' gets the franchise back on track

Goodness to ghosts, it’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 40 years since I saw the original “Ghostbusters” at the River Oaks Theater in Calumet City as the jam-packed house laughed and applauded the late director Ivan Reitman’s near-perfect, classic 1980s blending of action, special effects and comedy, with that iconic cast led by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver. “Ghostbusters” became an instant classic and was the launching point for a pop culture empire that included a number of direct sequels, the 2016 reboot, animated TV spinoffs, more than two dozen video games, comic books, slot machines, pinball games, you name it.

I haven’t always loved the theatrical-release follow-ups to the original, but I’m pleased to report that “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” carries the same endearingly goofy, science-nerd spirit of the first film and delivers a delightful balance of slimy ghost stuff, sharp one-liners, terrific VFX and a steady stream of callbacks to various characters, human and otherwise, from the 1984 movie. (Even the music by Dario Marianelli contains some lovely echoes of the original movie’s score by the great Elmer Bernstein.)

Director Gil Kenan (who co-wrote the screenplay with Jason Reitman) is clearly a devoted fan of the entire franchise, and while “Frozen Empire” sometimes overdoes it with the 21st century green screen stuff, and there are a few lags in the action around the midway point, this is a big and boisterous and just plain fun amusement park ride of a movie.

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is a direct sequel to 2021’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” with the late Egon Spengler’s daughter, single mother Callie (Carrie Coon), and her two children, 18-year-old Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and 15-year-old Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), having moved from Summerville, Oklahoma, to New York City to assume the Ghosbusters mantle. Joined by Phoebe’s science teacher and Callie’s special friend Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), they’ve even moved into the original New York City firehouse in lower Manhattan, which is now owned by Ernie Hudson’s Dr. Winston Zeddemore, who has become a successful businessman over the decades.

Oh, and hey! There’s Annie Potts as the deadpan, wisecracking Janine Melnitz, and William Atherton returns as the hilariously hiss-worthy villain Walter Peck, who is now the mayor of New York City and is still obsessed with closing down the Ghostbusters, even though they’ve saved the city and/or the world numerous times.

Columbia Pictures

It’s great to see Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond “Ray” Stantz and Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman; we even get a scene where Venkman terrorizes the human subject of an experiment, just as he did at the beginning of the original film. “Frozen Empire” also features the return of some of the other kids from “Afterlife,” including Celeste O’Connor’s Lucky and Logan Kim’s Podcast (yes, that’s his name), while introducing a bevy of new characters, including a perfectly cast Patton Oswalt as the curator of a library beneath the New York Public Library, Kumail Nanjiani as a slacker goofball who is kind of a variation on the Rick Moranis character from the first film, and Emily Alyn Lind in a pivotal role I’ll leave for you to discover.

As for the plot … does the plot really matter? There’s a lot (maybe a tad too much) of exposition about ancient battles and the obligatory All-Powerful Evil Entity who has been trapped for centuries but is on the verge of breaking loose and creating all kinds of chaos while destroying the human race and taking over the world and blah-de-blah-blah. At one point, when Stantz is explaining how a crazy plan just might work if all the right scientific and supernatural elements are in place, the exasperated Venkman speaks for us all when he basically tells Ray: This is your thing, man. We trust you. Let’s get on with it!

In between all the paranormal madness and the slam-bang action sequences, “Frozen Empire” delves into a bit of domestic drama, with the genius Phoebe getting benched because she’s only 15 and feeling a bit lost, while Gary is trying to become a father figure without overstepping his boundaries. (And because Gary is played by Paul Rudd, he just can’t stop himself with the fantastically funny, sidebar quips.)

One of the great strengths of this film is the casting; obviously, it’s a treat to see the iconic veterans, but the next-generation group is terrific. Coon and Rudd are wonderful together, and the young actors Wolfhard and Grace continue to build on already impressive careers. All signs point to further “Ghostbusters” adventures, and if Peter, Ray, Winston et al., decide to finally hang up the jumpsuits and power down their proton packs forever, the franchise is in good hands.