This movie is the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, in which the legacy of the late Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) is passed on to his estranged daughter and his two grandchildren, in a small town in middle America. 'Nuff said. Go watch it.

Three years have passed. The folks we met in Afterlife have relocated to New York City. This family unit now works as a formal set of Ghostbusters, having learned a thing or two about the relevant technology out west.

Enter Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), her 18-year-old son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and her 15-year-old daughter Phoebe (McKenna Grace). Callie's partner (or spouse?) Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) is part of the firehouse gang, too. Even two young friends from Oklahoma have come along for the ride. Lucky (Celeste O'Connor) is part of the ghost-busting team, which should delight Trevor to no end. And Podcast (Logan Kim) is nearby, working with Ray Stantz (Dan Ackroyd) in his curiosities shop. Already, we're mixing the old with the new.

Here's the problem. At a meeting of the Manhattan Adventurers Society in 1904, an ancient artifact was revealed. It was a brass orb that had a sinister spirit trapped inside of it. When unleashed, this entity had the ability to freeze everything within its path. It froze and killed everyone who was in the room that day. After more than a century of being kept in protected storage, this object has now resurfaced, thanks to a clueless grandson named Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani). Nadeem is looking to make a few quick bucks by selling some of his grandmother's more valuable-looking possessions. He happens to sell the ball to Ray Stantz, who is intrigued by the ancient glyphs that cover it. The orb is placed in the Ghostbusters lab for further study and safety. Questions arise. What is it? Is it really safe in the lab? And is the population of New York safe, too? (You can probably predict the answers to those last two questions....)

Kudos to the producers for casting Patton Oswalt as Dr. Hubert Wartzki, the antiquities expert whom the Ghostbusters consult for background information. What fun! For him AND for us! It's also fun to discover the identity of the "Firemaster" who can use his special powers to thwart the demon.

Much of the sideline story centers on young Phoebe. A lot of the previous episode did, too. First, Phoebe is told by the authorities that since she is underage, she is not allowed to fire a weapon. She cannot be a fighting Ghostbuster. Naturally, this news infuriates her. Then, always the curious one, Phoebe meets a friendly-enough ghost named Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), who is trapped in her current form and, sadly, doesn't have the power to return to her family. She first has unfinished business to resolve. The two young women become friends, of sorts. Until all hell breaks loose. And in the moments of crisis, the young people have to show the way for the adults to follow.

Follow, they do. WITH MUCH ACTION! I won't reveal more details here. Suffice it to say that ghostbusting technology and strategies have made some improvements in the last three decades.

It's fun to pick out the subtle and the not-so-subtle callbacks to objects and scenes from previous episodes. You almost forget about the animated marshmallow men, until they suddenly pop up all over the place.

I have to admit that I haven't followed the Ghostbusters franchise over the years. Of course, I saw the first two movies in the theater, back in the 1980s. I may have returned to them once or twice, since then. I think I passed on watching the female version that was released in 2016. I had no idea that Afterlife came out in 2021. When I told editor Tom that I was willing to write a review of this newest film, he encouraged me to go back and to watch Afterlife. Wow, am I ever glad that I did! Of course, I watched it AFTER I went to the theater to see the new film. With Afterlife, I ended up saying a lot of "Oh, so THAT'S who..." and "Oh, so THAT'S why...." As a result I highly recommend that you watch Afterlife before Frozen Empire. You'll have fewer questions as a result.

Just as Afterlife was dedicated to original Ghostbusters actor and writer Harold Ramis (1944-2014), Frozen Empire has been dedicated to writer Ivan Reitman (1946-2022), who also directed the first two Ghostbuster movies. Surely without these two creative men, we never would have heard of such a thing as a ghostbuster. And marshmallows would have merely remained the sticky filling of campfire s'mores.

Thanks to the current producers for also resisting the temptation to subtitle this one, "The Next Generation." Even though this is what it is. We've got the young folks and the older familiar ones, working together to save the world. What could be better?

Every Ghostbusters movie is an entertaining mix of high action, thrilling drama, nail-biting car chases, unexpected comedy in serious moments, and warm and satisfying feelings at the end of it all. This episode is no different. It's just plain fun. Please watch Afterlife before you sit down with Frozen Empire. Watch the savvy Ghostbusters, old and new, do what they do best. And don't worry. That familiar theme song stays with EVERYONE for a good, long while. And I assure you that there WON'T be a snack-gobbling ghost lurking behind every door in your house, when you get home. At least, it's highly unlikely.