Overstuffed yet supernaturally charming.

Relocating from Summerville, Oklahoma to the Big Apple three years earlier, the Spengler family plus Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) have become the new de facto Ghostbusters with the blessing and funding of Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson). Following a damage-inducing incident chasing a ghost across the city, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) is benched from doing the job she’s poured herself into and condemned to endure what scruffy minds fear the most: time to themselves for introspection. Meanwhile, Winston has been thinking about the future, creating a Paranormal Research Center to improve Ghostbusters tech and better understand the critters they’ve been shoving into containment since 1984. Dr. Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) has been buying up cursed and haunted objects at his occult shop for testing at the P.R.C., but an ancient brass orb covered in glyphs may hold more danger than curious arcane secrets.

With the surprise success of Afterlife — following the less-than stellar release of Answer the Call — no one should be surprised there was more mayhem to come from Ghost Corps, “a division of Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. focused on expanding the Ghostbusters brand.” It took a soft reboot and the original director’s son Jason Reitman to get a legacy sequel correct, paving the way for the franchise and lore to expand as it did in “The Real Ghostbusters” animated series. This time directed by Afterlife co-writer Gil Kenan, the theme was taking the “rekindled” story to the next stage as a celebration of everything Ghostbusters. A frigid demigod with an ice chip on its shoulders, a few comedic cameos, and fan-familiar locales from past adventures appear throughout the trailers and marketing spots for the sequel, but where’s Phoebe? Has the heart of the previous film been sidelined to make room for returning legacy characters?

After a deadly prologue full of foreshadowing, viewers can settle in for all the ghostbusting fun to be had. There’s the core story about an artifact with an ancient big bad trapped inside (that will definitely escape), Ray’s story about an aging Ghostbuster who never stops believing (much like the actor himself), and plot points revolving around new characters played by Kumail Nanjiani, Emily Alyn Lind, and Patton Oswalt. While the new film shortchanges Logan Kim’s Podcast and Celeste O’Connor’s Lucky, the ads for Frozen Empire impressively never give away the most meaningful subplot — yes, it’s Phoebe-centric, and no, that won’t be spoiled here. Still, why the Spenglers +1 were suddenly entrusted to live in the firehouse and professionally bust ghosts as a business remains a mystery, even if Winston does run it like Ray’s Occult. Speaking of which, where did all the ghosts trapped at Egon’s farmhouse end up — you know, the ones containing a defeated manifestation of Gozer the Gozerian, Vinz Clortho, and Zuul? To quote Podcast (whispering), “Nobody knows.”

It’s interesting that, instead of the plot threads intersecting as they did in Afterlife, this sequel tends to meander, leaving attentive audiences wondering what’s with all the jarring and/or missing transitions. Is there a simple explanation? An extended version of the 2011 sci-fi flick Cowboys and Aliens was far better than the two-hour theatrical cut, restoring seventeen minutes fixing most if not all of the narrative issues. Filmgoers watching Frozen Empire ad trailers on repeat for the last few months may notice many things not in the film… more than a hint that someone (read: Sony) might have gutted the previous (read: preferred) edit, purging necessary exposition for time while keeping the expensive VFX on the screen. And yes, they’ve done it before: seventeen minutes of footage was restored from the two-hour theatrical cut of the 2016 Ghostbusters film into a special edition as well.

Frozen Empire excels at pushing the franchise lore, something Afterlife expanded upon as well. When Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) was possessed by a terror dog in 1984, he set off Egon’s P.K.E. meter, but could that be true for any living person with a strong psychic connection and not solely due to possession? What’s the difference between a ghost trap and a containment unit, and how much spiritual energy can each hold? If a tormented soul can become a ghost — and that energy can be extracted from a haunted object — what else could that technology do? These are the kinds of questions and answers the animated series also brought up, culminating in the crafting of new tech to deal with incoming and vengeful supernatural threats. Trying to shoehorn a miniseries of fresh concepts into a feature film locked in at a mere two hours must have been a chore, but creators long ago hinted at even a television series if the films continue to succeed.

While the idea of everyone connected with the franchise helping each other out now and again sounds great, the new film omits many explanations of how things got to this place, not even bothering to dismiss narrative with throw away lines. Lifelong fans of the franchise live for details like this (and often dress accordingly for big premieres), so fingers crossed there’s a more definitive version planned for release out there that doesn’t leave us wanting.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is rated PG-13 for supernatural action/violence, language, suggestive references, and knowing Planet Earth has had five major ice ages instead of just one… look it up, guys.

Three skull recommendation out of four