As a lifelong Ghostbusters fan “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is a nostalgic ECTO-1-driven joyride offering up all the trademarks of the 40-year-old franchise. It’s a beloved continuation that serves as a loving tribute to the late Ivan Reitman. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is also an all-out ghostbusting adventure set on the streets of New York City and finally, after all these years, back at the Firehouse. The film is reminiscent of the Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters animated series; the cartoons have leapt into live-action. It’s an emotional and hilarious coming-of-age story about friends, family, and, of course, ghosts. Taking the helm of a Ghostbusters film is a responsibility that shouldn’t be taken lightly, but writer/director Gil Kenan has truly delivered a confident step forward for the franchise as a whole! Because it’s the perfect way to honour an iconic franchise while simultaneously accelerating and pushing the ghost trap into the future.
As with all films in the franchise, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is an entry point for new moviegoers and new audiences who have never seen a Ghostbusters movie before, and to also satisfy diehard Ghostheads like myself, who are absolutely in love with this iconic franchise, and also those who have been at every opening day since 1984. In picking up the reins, Kenan takes the franchise’s themes and messages and makes them his own. With Ghostbusters: Afterlife, there were very personal themes to director Jason Reitman, the son of the late Ivan Reitman, that were showcased throughout. Afterlife was truly an emotional and touching film about the passing of a generational torch and seeing whether the characters in that story could look at their heritage and accept their destiny. Now, three years later, the story continues as the Ghostbusters return to their old haunts in lower Manhattan to face their most terrifying (and hilarious) threats yet. Reitman and Kenan once again co-wrote “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.” However, Reitman this time takes on producing duties and Kenan directs. What I gathered throughout Gil’s filmography is that there has always been a question about how to define home—the principle of “Frozen Empire.” Is this story of a family trying to find a way to ground themselves, to have a place they can hold onto, and ultimately a place to define themselves as a family
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In “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artefact unleashes an army of ghosts that casts a death chill upon the city, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.