Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Reviews Call the Sequel Fun, but Flawed

Freeze! The first reactions have finally arrived after Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire heldits premiere Thursday night in New York City, where the film takesplace 40 years after the classic 1984 comedy. The sequel to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife— which reunites original stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson,and Annie Potts alongside next-gen Ghostbusters Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon,Mckenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard — sees an ancient evil cast a death chill upon New York, bringing together Ghostbusters new and old to save the world from a second Ice Age.

So, did Frozen Empire receive a chilly reception or a warmwelcome from critics? Based on the early social media reactions andreviews, it sounds like those who were among the first to see the filmain’t afraid to call Ghostbusters 4 a fun, if flawed, successor to the nostalgic and sentimental Afterlife.

“Between the veteran Ghostbusters actors, the returning Afterlifesquad, and the new additions, it’s an accomplishment in itself thatthey all seem to gel so well onscreen, with scenes of banter between thecast being the distinction that elevates Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire above other franchise installments,” writes Kofi Outlaw in a review for ComicBook. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire may be the first Ghostbustersfilm of the new era to inspire the hope – even the excitement – thatthis franchise, with these characters, can still run for at leastanother installment (or two), and will probably only continue to improvewith each one.”

See more excerpts from reviews around the Internet:

Variety: “You might say that Frozen Empire has to work even harder to invent areason for itself to exist. Yet it’s a livelier movie than Afterlife.It was directed by Gil Kenan, the co-writer of Afterlife (he and[Jason] Reitman share screenplay credit this time as well), and Kenan keeps thewide-eyed hollow scavenger hunt of a plot moving, whether he’s bringingone of those stone lions in front of the New York Public Library toaggressive life or coaxing an irresistibly avid performance out ofPatton Oswalt as a library scholar who actually makes the Orb soundworth all the excitement.” 

The Hollywood Reporter: “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire tries hard, veryhard, to satisfy the series’ fans with plenty of nostalgic throwbacksand mainly succeeds. It’s not nearly as good as the classic 1984original, but then again, neither was 1989’s Ghostbusters II, and that one was directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroydand Harold Ramis, all of whom were responsible for the original. So thefact that this installment manages to be as much fun as it isrepresents a minor triumph.”

USA Today: “Although Frozen Empire improves upon theprevious film and there’s plenty to dig especially for young fans, itfalls short of the 1984 classic’s high bar. (To be fair, none of the Ghostbusters outings since have come close.) So, bustin’ doesn’t feelas good as it once did but we’re getting there.”

Chicago Sun Times: “I haven’t always loved the theatrical-release follow-ups to theoriginal, but I’m pleased to report that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empirecarries the same endearingly goofy, science-nerd spirit of the firstfilm and delivers a delightful balance of slimy ghost stuff, sharpone-liners, terrific VFX and a steady stream of callbacks to variouscharacters, human and otherwise, from the 1984 movie. Director Gil Kenan (whoco-wrote the screenplay with Jason Reitman) is clearly a devoted fan ofthe entire franchise, and while Frozen Empire sometimes overdoes itwith the 21st-century green-screen stuff, and there are a few lags inthe action around the midway point, this is a big and boisterous andjust plain fun amusement park ride of a movie.” 

IndieWire: “Despite being crammed with characters — the final big battle includes no less than eleven goodguys, Kenan can barely keep them all in frame, let alone fighting back —and packed with subplots, little of Frozen Empire makes a lick ofsense. The bigger questions it routinely approaches, from the mechanicsof the evil ancient entity at its heart to how we might deal ghosts whoseem like they want to be our friend, are never answered. If you’reenjoying a moment or a beat or a storyline or even a character, theywill soon be ripped away in order to service yet another subplot … This franchise might not be entirely dead just yet, but its latestresurrection doesn’t make nearly enough good arguments to keep pumpinglife into it.”

Empire: “Ghostbustersisn’t in the afterlife just yet, but it might be in purgatory. Hasthere ever been a franchise with as much of an identity crisis? We’vehad 1984’s comedy-horror and its follow-up; years later a zany gender-flipping reboot that had its charms but floundered; and then, pretending that one never happened, came 2021’s Afterlife, a surprisingly moving sequel to the originals that introduced a likeable new breed of ‘busters. Now, Frozen Empire throws everythingagainst the wall to see if any of the slime sticks. Bits of it do; muchof it just gloops off. There are some entertaining ghouls, but the realfear this time seems to be off screen. Trying to play it safe, bucklingunder the weight of its own heritage, Ghostbusters itself is running scared.”

RogerEbert.com: “Like Slimer shoving snacks in his ravenous maw, Ghostbusters: FrozenEmpire tries to cram way too many characters, storylines and iconicimages into its two-hour runtime. Director Gil Kenan’sfilm does a vaguely better job of balancing the old and the new thanits predecessor, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It finesses the fanservice in a way that the 2021 reboot/legacyquel/whatever you want tocall it did not, offering familiar images and bits of dialogue inbreezier fashion while also moving these characters, and this story, in aslightly different direction.”

The Independent: “Frozen Empire is a notable improvement on Afterlife – funny,silly, and a little scary, with its pockets full of hand-built doodahsand the occasional excursion into the realm of pseudo-mythology andparapsychology. You know, like the original Ghostbusters. At some pointin the process, director Gil Kenan and co-writer Jason Reitman(son of the late Ivan Reitman, who directed the original), seem to haveremembered that Ghostbusters was Dan Aykroyd’s baby, born out of alifelong interest in the paranormal … we’re firmly on the way to a Ghostbusters film that actually feels like a Ghostbusters film.” 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is in theaters Thursday.