'Ghostbusters' review: 'Frozen Empire' doubles down on heroes and horror, but lacks magic

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” returns the 1980s paranormal comedy franchise to familiar haunts, albeit with way more human personalities than spooky ones.

Directed by Gil Kenan (“Monster House”), the latest installment (★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Friday) overcomes the growing pains of 2021’s frustrating “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” And a move to New York City harks back to the early days of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and the late Harold Ramis in heroic flight suits. Alongside familiar faces and newcomers, “Frozen Empire” rolls out a new supernatural big bad and more horror than the series has done in the past, yet it still often struggles to find freshness and recapture old magic.

“Afterlife,” directed by “Frozen Empire” co-writer Jason Reitman, was a “requel” that introduced Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace), the awkward genius granddaughter of Ramis’ Egon. With mom Callie (Carrie Coon), brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and schoolteacher Gary (Paul Rudd), Phoebe got an assist from the old Ghostbusters in the "Afterlife" finale to defeat archenemy Gozer in Oklahoma. Since then, the Spengler family has relocated, taking over the iconic New York firehouse headquarters where Grandpa collected spores, molds and fungus.

'The spirits are still there':Old 'Ghostbusters' gang is back together in 'Frozen Empire'

As “Empire” begins, they’re tooling around in the Ecto-1 and taking on phantom beasts like the Hell’s Kitchen Sewer Dragon. But they’re also a public-relations nightmare clad in nuclear-powered proton packs: A bit of city destruction puts them on the radar of Walter Peck (William Atherton), the OG Ghostbusters’ bureaucratic nemesis who’s now mayor. He calls out Phoebe being only 15 and vows to shut them all down, a threat that winds up benching the quirky youngster.

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They’ll soon need all hands on deck. When the firehouse's ghost containment unit gets dangerously full, the Spenglers team up with a paranormal research center founded by another original hero, Winston Zeddemore (Hudson). Meanwhile, a slacker dude named Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani) rolls into the occult book store of Ray Stantz (Aykroyd) with an orb owned by his late grandma. The evil force imprisoned in this artifact accidentally gets loose, with designs on raising an undead army against humanity and bringing a big chill to the Ghostbusters’ doorstep.

“Frozen Empire” doesn’t skimp on the throwbacks, even weaving vintage toy commercials and a Ray Parker Jr. music video into the fictional narrative. A slew of legacy characters return, including the lovable Slimer: Murray’s Peter Venkman has a couple of fun scenes, secretary Janine (Annie Potts) finally gets to be a Ghostbuster, and Ray is an important emotional anchor as both father figure and spiritual center, who nicely taps back into the franchise's penchant for weird history.

Throw in “Afterlife” supporting characters, then toss in more rookies like Nadeem and an oddball librarian played by Patton Oswalt, and the whole thing gets too busy, overshadowing what “Frozen Empire” does really well.

This might be the closest “Ghostbusters” comes to going full fright-fest: Given the directing reins, Kenan leans into chilling visuals, creepy stakes and a palpable yet still kid-friendly sense of dread. (New baddie Garraka is more conventionally freaky than demonic Jazzerciser Gozer.) And the latest film carries over the coming-of-age bent from “Afterlife” with a subplot where Phoebe, in a parents-just-don't-understand moment, bonds with teen girl ghost Melody (Emily Alyn Lind). It does something different – the Ghostbusters usually take down specters instead of befriend them – while also giving new depth to Phoebe as the franchise’s most likable asset.

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