YMMV / Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

• Alternative Character Interpretation: How much of Phoebe using the de-possessor was due to her interest in quantum physics and better contact with Melody as a soul/ghost? With Phoebe barely escaping a prison sentence, her actions being responsible for the lack of equipment for the rest of the Ghostbusters and the fact that even she wasn't completely sure if everything works as intended it looks like she'd be fine with dying and/or staying a ghost then and there.
• Awesome Music: Dario Marianelli takes over scoring duties from Afterlife composer Rob Simonsen, preserving Elmer Bernstein's classic themes from the original film and delivering another rousing neo-Eighties action-adventure score for the franchise.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Melody's Heel–Face Turn when she lights the match and enables Nadeem and everyone else to overpower and seal Garraka away is both satisfying and awesome.
  • The Possessor—after being the troublemaker they are—getting eaten in a pizza by Slimer is an unbelievably hilarious and cheer-worthy moment.
  • For fans who weren't satisfied with Peck's Laser-Guided Karma in either the original film or the 2009 video game, seeing him forced to halt all his anti-Ghostbuster activities lest he gets trounced by an angry mob should be able to tickle that itch.
• Complete Monster: Garraka is an ancient ghost who once helped a king conquer other kingdoms before his actions scared the king so much that he was betrayed and stripped of his horns. Swearing vengeance on all of humanity, Garraka came up with a way to freeze all of humanity using fear before being imprisoned by the Firemasters in an orb. Trying to escape in the present day, Garraka releases the Possessor to cause havoc all over New York. Caring nothing for his fellow ghosts, Garraka has no problem using his power to force them to do what he wants, and lies to Melody so that she will trick Phoebe into temporally becoming a ghost so that Garraka can use her body to finish the chant needed to free him. Planning on releasing all of the ghosts that the Ghostbusters have captured, Garraka tries to freeze the whole of New York and brutally murders a random man due to mistaking him for the last Firemaster. Completely freezing all of the comedy whenever he shows up, Garraka is one of the worst enemies that the Ghostbusters have ever faced.
• Ho Yay: Phoebe and Melody grow very close over the course of the film and share many intimate and tender scenes that could be read as romantic. Melody calls Podcast a "third wheel" (a platonic friend who hangs around with romantic couples), Phoebe describes Melody as the only person who understands her, Phoebe puts herself on ice to separate her spirit from her body so she and Melody can "be together" (as in "together on the same plane of existence", but still) and they end the film with a very bittersweet Reunion Vow. It's a little subtle, but she uses a machine to 'die a little' and become a ghost for a few minutes. Then, remember the French expression le petit mort...
• Magnificent Bastard: Melody is a ghost working for Garraka in order to move on and reunite with her family. Befriending Phoebe, Melody fakes a haunting in order to follow Phoebe home and learn about the Ghostbusters containment unit. Melody eventually tricks Phoebe into temporarily turning into a ghost so that Garraka can use her body to say the chant to free him. Using Garraka's invasion as a distraction, Melody sneaks into the Ghostbusters' base to release their captured ghosts, only to be talked down by Phoebe. Legitimately bonding with and befriending Phoebe, Melody later helps Phoebe trap Garraka by lighting her match to aid the Firemaster, before finally moving on and promising to see Phoebe in the "Fabric of the Universe."
• Memetic Mutation: Ghostbusters: Tropical Freeze.^ExplanationMany fans have noted that the film's synopsis is identical to the plot of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which has quickly led to many jokes comparing the two. It helps that both are direct sequels to works that acted as a Soft Reboot of their respective franchises, which only increased the jokes.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Some shippers online have taken to calling Phoebe and Melody "Phelody".
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The film is two hours long and Garraka, the main villain, isn't released until the hour-and-thirty-minute mark. A common complaint with the film is that it's too crowded with too many characters for its runtime that the pacing suffers as a result.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Trevor Spengler is given next to nothing to do in the film. It could’ve been a perfect opportunity to develop his character trying to live up to the Spengler name as well as form a better brother-sister dynamic with Phoebe—and by extension, have interactions with Melody too. His role is instead reduced to a gag plot of him trying to catch Slimer which, while funny, does nothing to develop his character. Even when he is in the group investigating, he contributes nothing to any findings and usually goofs around. It’s as if the writers didn’t know what to do with him—with even his potential romance with Lucky being mostly sidelined as well.
  • Despite some early hints that Walter Peck has at least learned something from the events of the original film (calling the team out as irresponsible but not treating them as frauds, for example), he eventually proves himself no better than the petty Hate Sink he was before, which may disappoint fans who were familiar with the Character Development he got in the IDW comic series.
  • Melody being a Cute Ghost Girl introduced as a means of expanding beyond just being a friend Phoebe made who also plays a major role in Garraka's plans for her own reasons had a lot of potential. It meant that semi-human looking ghosts beyond just those who often cause trouble and no longer look like humans existed and since they weren't necessarily trouble, it could have led to the fascinating concept pertaining to whether or not it was ethical to bust those kinds of ghosts for that exact reason—and to see how she interacted with the other characters in this capacity as well (especially Trevor, being Phoebe's brother after all). Ultimately though, she mainly just serves to reluctantly betray Phoebe by using her to free Garraka and then make a Heel–Face Turn to help to be a major part of defeating him too.
  • Dr. Lars Pinfield is a very neat addition to the team. He was clearly designed to fill the void left by Egon, even looking like Egon’s animated counterpart. He could have developed a nice friendship with the Spenglers and have been a mentor of sorts to Phoebe and/or Trevor. Instead, he barely interacts with the Spenglers and he isn’t even given the decency of participating in the final battle.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • At several points, the film seems to be heading towards confronting the ethics of the Ghostbusters' operation. There's the problem with the containment unit being overloaded with ghosts, Winston's ghost research centre and, most especially, Phoebe's relationship with the ghost Melody wherein the latter character questions how ghosts are supposed to be able to move on if they get trapped in a box. This is an interesting ethical conundrum and could have opened up new possibilities for the franchise to explore, but it's forgotten by the film's end and the film climaxes with the Ghostbusters trapping the main villain ghost as per usual.
  • Garraka actually turning New York into winter in the summertime is presented like it's gonna be the majority of the film and only unfortunately ends up the last third of it, not getting anywhere near as much attention or time devoted to it as it should've gotten.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Absolutely nobody expected Walter Peck, the first film's Obstructive Bureaucrat, to make a return appearance for the new film, particularly notable since his actor was treated poorly by the public for his character (having people call him "dickless" frequently).
  • The Library Ghost showing up to scare Ray again is also an unexpected surprise. Speaking of which, the library administrator played by John Rothman was also in the original.
  • Since the Mini Pufts' appearance in Afterlife made perfect sense with the connection the original Stay Puft had to Gozer, it did come as a surprise that they show up here once again with Gozer now sealed away indefinitely.

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