Reed: So, we watched that new movie, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire…
Griffin: And like the specters from the film, that thing was just plain ghastly.
Reed: What? G:FE is a hilarious, heartfelt update to the Ghostbusters franchise! And it avoids being cheesy at several key moments!
Griffin: And yet at other key moments, the story totally comes apart!
Melissa: I thought it was just okay overall.
Griffin: What? A moderate opinion? Scandalous!
Reed: What’s scandalous is that we almost forgot to summarize the film. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is, as TV Tropes notes, the fourth film (not counting the all-female 2016 reboot) in the Ghostbusters franchise. It centers on Phoebe (McKenna Grace), Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), Callie (Carrie Coon), and, per IMdB, Gary Grooberson Spangler (Paul Rudd), all descendants of the original Ghostbusters’ Anton Spangler (Harold Ramis).
Melissa: As the Spanglers are in danger of being kicked out of the iconic firehouse by the mayor, the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, leaving it up to the family to save New York City.
Reed: One of the film’s strongest points, to me, is how it balances the supernatural horror of ancient evil (the monster Garraka, puppeteered by Ian Whyte according to IMdB) with the common earthly struggle of living together as a family. While good-natured, goofy Gary struggles to fit in as the Spangler step-dad, Trevor feels that his mother Callie does not respect his maturity. Teen prodigy Phoebe gets it especially rough, though, as Callie and Gary “bench” her as a Ghostbuster over her protests. In one heartbreaking scene, Phoebe can only watch as the Ghostbusters’ van speeds away to an emergency without her, powerless as the job she knows is her calling slips away from her.
In fact, keeping a family together makes for a major theme in this story, and a lesser movie might well have tried to communicate it via a ridiculous speech. Frozen Empire, meanwhile, gives each family member a quirky personality–underage genius Phoebe, goofy but uncertain Gary, eager-to-prove-himself Trevor, and hard-as-nails Callie–and then puts them all together in a van with a photon cannon. Their wisecracks and internal sniping make the audience root for these weirdos–and feel Phoebe’s pain when she’s excluded from their exploits. This is just one of the instances in which this movie sidesteps cheesiness when it could have succumbed to it.
Melissa: As Reed mentions, every character is unique just like the plot. The plot twist keeps you on your toes and you would never expect what would happen next. Something kept defeating the Ghostbusters as you thought they almost had the win!
Griffin: And yet, right at the peak of the fight against Garraka, what happens? Phoebe just waltzes in with a better type of blaster! What kind of lackluster, deus-ex-machina finish is that?
Melissa: But it wasn’t a finish! No spoilers, but it takes more than Phoebe’s better blaster to bring Garraka down. Phoebe proved, not only to her family, but to everyone that doubted her, that she was meant to be a Ghostbuster. It really showed her tenacious nature and brilliant mindset when it was most needed.
Plus, the writers never let there be a dull moment in the plot, and the jokes never failed to make you laugh. Every time the Ghostbusters were in a surprising or unexpected moment, someone always threw a joke out, like they knew we were scared as they were facing Garakka and wanted to lighten the mood.
Griffin: Oh, come on, Melissa–surely, you must have some objections to this movie.
Melissa: Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, but to me the Ghostbusters are THE Ghostbusters. I thought it was weird how for some reason, in this particular movie, they added a guy with superpowers who can control fire. I understand that in the movie, his ancestors protected the world from Garakka, but it just seems weird to add a fire controlling guy in the Ghostbusters. To me, it was sort of unnecessary to include him.
Reed: Well, what “the Firemaster” lacks in necessity, he makes up for in comedy–to avoid spoilers, suffice it to say that this character is capital-I Inept.
Griffin: Ah, but Melissa isn’t the only one with a mixed reaction to this movie–Eddie Cho, senior, had one as well. “I think the movie was really good, but I thought it was kind of generic,” Cho said. “It felt like any other Hollywood movie, but it was fun to watch and entertaining.”
Griffin: You know what else is fun and entertaining? Sum-ups! One of which we really need to do, right now!
Reed: Care to do the honors, Melissa?
Melissa: Everyone must watch Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. You’ll have a great time laughing and enjoying the plot twists you would never expect! Go watch it!
