"Aren't you retired?"
With Afterlife re-energising the franchise and passing the torch with a new cast, new setting and sufficient warm nostalgia, Frozen Empire muddies the waters by being an unexpectedly mixed bag. Whilst it does not fully hand back the torch, the film does take us back to New York, the fire house and a bigger (if uneven) presence of the originals. The film starts encouragingly with a macabre 1904-set prologue and then a lively chase with the 'new' family ghostbusting team through the surprisingly-empty streets of New York to capture a Dragon spirit, but it then spends a considerable amount of time painstakingly laying out and explaining all of the pieces that lead to the big ending that does not go much beyond what was seen in the trailer. Swapping out the original easy-going comedy actors' banter for on-trend familial angst reduces the fun and funny lines notably, especially when young McKenna Grace's promising character Phoebe gets sidelined into a dreary friendship with a young female ghost, and with the new and old cast plus some nicely-placed but limited callbacks all vying for screen-time, the film feels a little underdeveloped and lacking momentum. Kumail Nanjiani and James Acaster are effective additions to an already overstuffed main cast, but sadly the likes of Annie Potts and Bill Murray are given very little to do. The film even resorts to a 'swirly clouds in the sky' event in the finale! An original 'baddie' is welcome - even if it appears far too late in the day - but the potential of the new generation is sadly not given the focus and development it needs here.
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