Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is powered by nostalgia but pulled into ...

For better or for worse — depending on how you feel about exercises in IP expansion and letting people just enjoy things — the Ghostbusters are back, baby! And there are a lot more of them now.

In 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife the astral action moved to Oklahoma, where we got to know the estranged family of original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis, who passed away in 2014), as well as science teacher/father figure Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) .

Content that they've rid the US south west of ghoulies, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire sees the gang pick up and move back to New York City, into the firehouse locale of the original films.

Not only does Frozen Empire go back to the setting of the classic comedy, but it also features the familiar faces of the original Ghostbusters and the friends we picked up in Oklahoma.

After a period of wacky hijinks involving green slime monsters — new and old — the three generations of Ghostbusters must team up to save the world from Garraka, a Big Bad that has ancient power strong enough to freeze the earth out of existence.

The Spengler/Grooberson family are back in New York City in Frozen Empire.(Supplied: Sony)

"It's a really important fight because if we lose, we're all done — everyone on the planet," warns Rudd.

As any studio executive can tell you, reboots of classic franchises can be risky business. Double that risk if it's a sequel of a reboot (conveniently christened a "requel" by 2022's Scream).

Put too much of the old stuff in and it's an IP cash grab, not enough and you could face losing the core audience who made the original a success in the first place.

Like its predecessor, Frozen Empire successfully toes the line between old and new without rocking the boat too much.

It's not long into Frozen Empire that we get our first blast from the past: turns out it was Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) that got the Spengler fam back into the iconic firehouse (and protects them from the crusty old Mayor).

The original Ghostbusters get the chance to don their old suits towards the end of the film.(Supplied: Sony)

Soon after we walk into Ray Stantz's (Dan Aykroyd) cabinet of curiosities — the OG Buster has stepped away from the suit but can't give up the ghost. Bill Murray's midway appearance is so pronounced it's like he's being welcomed into the Cheers bar, Norm-style.

It made for an initially intimidating on-set environment for Finn Wolfhard, playing a third generation Spengler in Frozen Empire.

"You're sort of asking yourself 'Is this real? Do I deserve this?'," Wolfhard says.

"Then, at a certain point, that voice in your head kind of diminishes because you get to collaborate with all these incredible people and they're very warm and inviting."

There's three layers of storytelling that Frozen Empire is trying to juggle: the very familiar original characters; the sort-of recognisable Spengler family from the original reboot; and the completely new faces that drive the current narrative.

It's a lot of bodies to fit into one, 120-minute action comedy and some characters fare better than others. The Spengler parents (Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon) are pretty superfluous, but that's okay when there's a bunch of comedians that are clearly having the time of their lives.

British comedian James Acaster lends much-needed dry wit and lanky physicality as ghost lab boss Lars, and while Patton Oswalt's Dr Hubert Wartzki only pops up to drop exposition, he does a lot with his modest part.

James Acaster (centre) is just one of the many new characters in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire(Supplied: Sony)

But it's Kumail Nanjiani's hopeless slacker Nadeem that kicks off the Ghostbusting action in Frozen Empire, by delivering the Big Bad McGuffin (in this instance, an ancient orb) to Stantz's oddity shop. Nanjiani's normal-guy-to-saviour-of-the-world arc doesn't stick the landing, but his exuberance for the role is obvious.

"I'm a massive Ghostbusters fan," Nanjiani has said.

"And then you're doing a scene with Ray Stantz? I kept having to pinch myself."

Frozen Empire really does right by McKenna Grace (The Handmaid's Tale; The Haunting Of Hill House), who returns as the youngest Spengler — Phoebe. While her big brother Trevor (Wolfhard) is revelling in being freshly 18, Phoebe is left to deal with parents that don't trust her to take over the family business (despite her clearly being the best at it).

"I think that everybody can relate to that, especially being a young person or a teenager, at least for me, and acting growing up. Being a younger person on set, sometimes it's hard to be taken as seriously," McKenna says.

"You just constantly want to prove yourself to people and, you know, somebody tells you no, so you're like, 'Okay, and I'm gonna do it anyways, just to show you that I can'."

Even the Stay Puft marshmallow men get a cameo.(Supplied: Sony)

Phoebe's rejection from her family and the Ghostbusters leads her to find a friend in Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), who is also trying to connect with her lost fam. Melody and Phoebe's relationship progresses beautifully and, while Melody's inclusion can seem a little random at first, she proves very important in tying the main story into a somewhat satisfying conclusion.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was never going to please everyone. There's always going to be hardcore fans that see it as a further desecration of a hallowed institution, and naysayers that think the requel is the death of cinema.

But sometimes it's nice just to watch a slick-looking (and sometimes genuinely frightening) studio comedy for some no think, smooth-brain time.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire doesn't reinvent the wheel, but this car runs just fine.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is in cinemas now.