It was 40 years ago when the original Ghostbusters hit our screens and became one of the most successful comedy films ever. The heady mix of giggles, special effects, and scares worked on every level, and even now, looking at the film, I think it might be dubious in some of its contents and is a lot ruder than you remember. However, it still has the power to make you laugh, make you jump, and genuinely give you a great time watching it. The same cannot be said about the fourth sequel, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which has virtually no jokes, the effects are uninspiring and it doesn’t even make you jump a little. This is more of a call to end the franchise before things get worse, although I’m not sure how much worse it can get.

The Spanglers have left their country home and are now full-time Ghostbusters in New York. They live in the fire station, work alongside Ray Stantz and are facing confrontation with now Mayor Walter Peck. When an orb arrives at Stantz’s shop, it causes confusion about what it is, but they don’t know that it’s the prison for a powerful spirit that can unleash frozen hell and release every ghost held by the Ghostbusters.

This film relies on sentimentality from the past to win the audience over. The thing is, it doesn’t work. You cannot reboot a successful movie and then keep digging back in the past to make the whole thing gel together. We get the fire station that was the original base, clips from the past movies, the return of old characters and even Slimer back sliming. Alongside this is the Spangler family, with stepdad Gary trying to get the balance of fatherhood with a friend to the kids, the mum now part of the team, 18-year-old Trevor wanting to be treated like an adult and the brains of the outfit, Phoebe, being banned from any busting activity due to her age.

The trouble is, none of this stuff works. You care little about the family dynamics, and what makes things worse is that Phoebe has a creepy relationship with a young female spirit, to the point she is willing to die for two minutes to make a proper connection. This is the one thing the most intelligent team member would never have done because the filmmakers have now made her on par with her brother, who spends most of the film trying to catch Slimer.

Plotwise, it goes into a tailspin when it tries to spin several plates at once. The family dynamics are mixed with dealing with the most potent spirit they have to face (until the next most powerful spirit, although let’s hope they stop after this), and it just doesn’t work. Throw in a new character, Nadeem, a wheeler-dealer who happens to find the orb, which, in his naivety, could be the answer to stopping the spirit. Frankly, I didn’t care.

Ghostbusters, we can all agree, was funny. Ghostbusters II was amusing but could never reach the same comic heights as the first film. The 2016 reboot with the all-female Busters needs to be re-evaluated as it managed to do something the other sequels have failed: to be funny. The only reason it failed was that the die-hard fans were offended by having women as the leads. The Ghostbuster: Afterlife was frankly a bore, drained of all humour, so you would have thought that Jason Reitman, son of the original’s director, Ivan Reitman, and co-writer of this disaster, would have learnt his lesson. Yet the humour is lacking in a way that just makes you sad.

So it’s up to the cast to try and save it. Paul Rudd, who is one of the most likeable performers around, is given little to do, as is Connie Coon as his partner. Stranger Things Finn Wolfhard is supposed to be the funny one, but that doesn’t work. Meanwhile, McKenna Grace makes some dodgy decisions to beef up her character. Out of the returners, only Dan Akyroyd seems to agree to more chances to shine, and he manages to prove that the old guys still have a little of the magic. Bill Murray comes and goes, drops a dry line and looks like he’s only there for the money. Eddie Hudson, Annie Potts and William Atherton aren’t given much to make an impression, and it’s only Kumail Nanjini, as Nadeem has the right approach and gets some of the best lines that make you smirk.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a disaster and makes you wonder if reboots of favourites from the past are a terrible idea. Unless you fully understand what made an original work, you can almost forget trying to regain the fans of that film, and newcomers to the series will wonder what the fuss was about. Your best bet is to return to the original and watch Paul Feig’s version with Melissa McCartney. At least you will find something to laugh about.

1 out of 5

Director: Gil Kenan

Starring: Paul Rudd, Connie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjini, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Emily Alyn Lind, James Acaster, Bill Murray, Dan Akyroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton

Written by: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman, (based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters directed by) Ivan Reitman, (based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters written by) Dan Akyroyd and Harold Ramis.

Running Time: 115 mins

Cert: 12A

Release date: 22nd March 2024