Bustin’ makes me feel ok.

Of course, nostalgia has always been a part of the film industry’s makeup to some extent, yet it’s never been quite as prominent as it is right now. Whether its reboots, revamps, prequels, sequels, or anything in between, Hollywood has found itself digging deeper and more aggressively into its past now than at any given point in its history.

But of the many, many IPs that have been milked dry for our nostalgic pleasure through the years, few have had a trickier time of it than Ghostbusters. After 1989’s Ghostbusters II came, saw, and kicked (a moderate amount of) ass, talk of a third film did the rounds for what seemed like forever, however, just as talk dwindled and the Ghostbusters brand name faded, a 2016 all-female reboot came along, making a brave attempt to resuscitate the franchise.

However, caught between being its own thing and reverence to the brand, Paul Feig’s film failed to land, once again leaving the Ghostbusters name in limbo. That is, until Afterlife sought a full-blown resurrection of the franchise by diving head-first into nostalgia. An indulgence that its follow-up, Frozen Empire, takes that one step further.

Returning to where it all started, the Spengler family head to New York City and the iconic firehouse to team up with the original Ghostbusters who have since developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters both new and old must team up to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

Caught somewhere between organic franchise revival and nostalgic indulgence, Ghostbusters: Afterlife continually found its streams crossed in an attempt to carve out a place for itself in a cinematic landscape littered with sequels. While never truly recapturing the magic of the 1984 original, Afterlife did a solid enough job progressing the Ghostbusters lore while offering a surprisingly emotional passing of the proton pack baton. Well, until the overwhelming urge to gorge on nostalgia kicked in, that is.

For a good two thirds of the film, Afterlife felt like it was onto something, taking its time to bed us in with the Spengler family, yet the further things went and the further into the spectral shenanigans we plunged, the more the plot floundered, ultimately throwing out all the good work and diving head-first into nostalgia. It’s a factor made even more disappointing when you consider just how much potential the Ghostbusters franchise has for new stories and innovative world building, yet it all felt a little hollow in the end, something that Frozen Empire just can’t help but double down on.

In many ways, Frozen Empire represents the very worst habits of modern blockbuster cinema and its cynical approach to IP nostalgia. The film’s continued focus on the Spangler family and their relationship with one another is certainly admirable, as is some of its attempts to evolve the Ghostbusters canon, however, there’s just so much about it that feels like cold, calculated nostalgia porn.

Sacrificing any attempt to tell a good, original story, and choosing instead to plump for an abbreviated rehash of the original Ghostbusters plot, Frozen Empire lays the nostalgia on thicker than ectoplasm, as it really struggles to get going in its early moments. It’s all rather messy in its approach, making for a disappointingly uneven script and an uncomfortably overstuffed plot, as characters old and new are constantly left to fumble around for purpose and direction while the film so often struggles to keep up with itself.

Once again finding itself caught between the organic, family-first approach established in Afterlife and an unquenchable thirst for that cold, hard nostalgia cash, Frozen Empire never truly picks a lane, and the film suffers because of it. Taking an age to settle down, the plot is a mish-mash of dangling threads and characters all fighting for screen time, resulting, as one might expect, in a rather messy end product, and it’s not until deep into the third act that things truly settle down.

As the action heats up (or should that be cools down?), the film’s final act is a lot of fun and a very welcome reminder of just what the Ghostbusters franchise can offer when in full flow. It also works rather well to underline the film’s family themes; a factor that helps smooth over some (but not all) of Frozen Empire’s cracks.

Admittedly, the nice final act flourishes don’t entirely make up for the messy, slapdash approach leading to that point. With so much going on and so much Ghostbusters spaghetti being thrown at the wall, it’s almost inevitable that the solid character work built in Afterlife is undercut. And so it goes.

The core cast of Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Mckenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard are much as they were before with little in the way of character development to bolster them, barring some scattergun storylines that offer relatively little. As with the first film, Grace’s Phoebe gets the most attention and the young actor delivers accordingly, yet, while her ghostly romance storyline is a nice touch, it inevitably gets lost in the shuffle.

Around them, the new characters, particularly the never less than charming Kumail Nanjiani, are fun additions to the franchise, however, like everyone else, they all end up a little drowned out by all the noise, while the usage of the original Ghostbusters is nice to a certain extent, especially Dan Aykroyd who gets by far the most screen time, just one look at Bill Murray’s tired, weather-beaten face and it’s hard not to feel that it’s all a little overdone at this point.

Much like Slimer, Frozen Empire so often feels like a shapeless spectral blob of a film, and while it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the classic spooky shenanigans and the high energy Saturday morning cartoon vibes of it all, the film lacks any real form or substance.

And, for better or worse, it’s this Saturday morning cartoon area where Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire finds itself landing. Complete with a collection of weird and wonderful side ghosts and an admirably creepy villain positively ripped from The Real Ghostbusters show, this is a film that offers plenty of fun, yet ultimately finds itself stumbling over its own messiness. It’s all perfectly fine and deals in a brand of broad, easy-going entertainment that will no doubt offer plenty for young audiences to devour like a big bowl of sugary cereal on a Saturday morning, however, that’s about it.

Messy, overcrowded, derivative, and laying on the nostalgic fan service thicker than ectoplasm, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is far from perfect, yet with plenty of heart and tonnes of enjoyable cartoonish action, there’s much to enjoy. Basic, overlong, and a downgrade on Afterlife though it may be, Frozen Empire nevertheless offers plenty to please audiences both old and new, suggesting that there might just about be some life left in this franchise yet.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is in cinemas now.