"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" (2021) is considered by many as the true sequel to Ghostbusters (1984) and that is not wrong. "Ghostbusters II" (1989) is more like a spin-off, while "Ghostbusters" (2016), rebooted with an all-female cast, is in an entirely different time line/parallel universe. Both have left the fans of the original somewhat unsatisfied, if not outright disappointed. To these fans, "Afterlife" would feel more like a nostalgic encore than a simple sequel. "Frozen Empire" is in every sense a sequel to "Afterlife", and more (continuation of a Rocky-ish franchise?)
Just as a brief recap: "Afterlife" started with 3 new characters, single mother Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two children Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace). Callie turns out to be the daughter of one of the Ghostbusters, Egon Spengler, who recently died and left his daughter a Gothic house in Oklahoma. Other new characters, surrounding this core family, were school teacher Gary (Paul Rudd), lovely young lady who calls herself "4th generation dump" Lucky (Celeste O'Connor), and even younger but professional-looking Podcast (Logan Kim). When the three surviving original Ghostbusters (character as well as actual actors) finally arrived on the scene, the heart-warming cup runneth over.
Now, the stage has moved to New York, where Gary has joined the Spengler family as a de facto step father which Phoebe steadfastly refuses to acknowledge, consistently throwing retorts such as "3 years is a tiny negligible percentage of your lifespan". They take over an abandoned firehouse and start their ghostbusting business. The two buddies of the young Spengler end up in the Big Apple, needless to say. Of the surviving three originals, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) has the most to do, plotline-wise, having established his own high-tech paranormal investigation lab, a "home on the strange, where the specters and the entities play" (as the wise-crack in Gary cannot resist quipping). It accommodates one of the three newcomers to the cast, (James Acaster), a young(ish), no-nonsense scientist. Next comes (Manhattan Oswalt) an ancient language expert at the New York Public Library who unravels the mystery of the prime villain. The last newcomer is (Kumail Nanjiani ) whose secret identity is unknown initially even to himself, the "Fire-master" who eventually teams up with Phoebe to prevail over evil. "Last newcomer" pertains only to characters that are alive! There is lovely teenage ghost Melody (Emily Alyn Lind, unforgettable from "Code Black", the superb TV series), and that is her family name. She initially plays chess with Phoebe as an invisible opponent. When she suddenly appears with a "boo", intending to surprise (if not scare) Phoebe, she becomes surprised herself when Phoebe displays no reaction whatsoever, carrying on nonchalantly with the game.
I won't go into the plot and sub-plots, but just answer an obvious question: how can they fit such a big cast into a slightly less than 2-hour movie? The answer is except for Phoebe, you get to see just a little bit of everybody else. You get a lot of good laughs though and a warm nostalgic feeling. Whether that meets with your expectation is a personal thing.
Now, the stage has moved to New York, where Gary has joined the Spengler family as a de facto step father which Phoebe steadfastly refuses to acknowledge, consistently throwing retorts such as "3 years is a tiny negligible percentage of your lifespan". They take over an abandoned firehouse and start their ghostbusting business. The two buddies of the young Spengler end up in the Big Apple, needless to say. Of the surviving three originals, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) has the most to do, plotline-wise, having established his own high-tech paranormal investigation lab, a "home on the strange, where the specters and the entities play" (as the wise-crack in Gary cannot resist quipping). It accommodates one of the three newcomers to the cast, (James Acaster), a young(ish), no-nonsense scientist. Next comes (Manhattan Oswalt) an ancient language expert at the New York Public Library who unravels the mystery of the prime villain. The last newcomer is (Kumail Nanjiani ) whose secret identity is unknown initially even to himself, the "Fire-master" who eventually teams up with Phoebe to prevail over evil. "Last newcomer" pertains only to characters that are alive! There is lovely teenage ghost Melody (Emily Alyn Lind, unforgettable from "Code Black", the superb TV series), and that is her family name. She initially plays chess with Phoebe as an invisible opponent. When she suddenly appears with a "boo", intending to surprise (if not scare) Phoebe, she becomes surprised herself when Phoebe displays no reaction whatsoever, carrying on nonchalantly with the game.
I won't go into the plot and sub-plots, but just answer an obvious question: how can they fit such a big cast into a slightly less than 2-hour movie? The answer is except for Phoebe, you get to see just a little bit of everybody else. You get a lot of good laughs though and a warm nostalgic feeling. Whether that meets with your expectation is a personal thing.