Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

After so many mishandled or abandoned series — from “Fantastic Beasts” to “Narnia” to “Percy Jackson” — it’s nice to see one that’s heading in the right direction.

Until Ghostbusters decides if it wants to throw its lot in with one era or the other, it’s always going to be between two worlds. And that purgatory makes for a middling experience that doesn’t quite satisfy.

This newest franchise entry is built on nostalgia and a stacked cast, but not enough to make it worth watching.

It's like the scriptwriters just devoured some plates of Ghostbusters' stuff and went barf... none of it makes any sense.

The plot is pretty much a cut-and-paste duplication of the original film.

There's a lot of self-referential backslapping throughout the film, but overall the problem is that there's too much going on. It's like the filmmakers couldn't figure out what story to tell, so they just threw everything into the mix.

If this is the level of quality we can expect from Ghostbusters going forward, then maybe Walter Peck was right.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire resorts to jingling keys in front of viewers’ faces instead of honing its more vital elements. If this is what the Ghostbusters franchise, or any other franchise for that matter, has to do to stay relevant, then good riddance.

I didn’t hate “Frozen Empire” like apparently many others did. I liked it. I just wish there was more thinking outside of the box.

When it comes to straight-up storytelling, “Frozen Empire” lacks anything substantial or original, resulting in a film that, despite a few moments of fun, ultimately leaves audiences a bit cold.