Based on children’s author Cornelia Funke’s Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost (although she is best known for providing the material for the underrated Inkheart), this family comedy has a breezy Saturday morning TV series vibe about it.
When Tom (Parker) finds an ASG (an Averagely Spooky Ghost) in his basement he’s understandably gets the heebie-jeebies but Hugo (a cross between Ghostbusters’s Slimer and Mark Wootton’s Mr. Poppy from the Nativity trilogy) is a friendly sort. He asks for Tom’s help in taking back his haunted house, now occupied by the AIG (Ancient Ice Ghost), hell bent on spreading winter throughout Tom’s town in the middle of summer.
The two approach professional ghosthunter Hetty Cuminseed (Hengelke) for help. But she doesn’t like children and is burned after her ejection from the CGI (Central Ghosthunting Institute – there’s a lot of acronyms in this one) but when she learns that the one responsible for her firing is after Hugo too she decides to help.
An Irish co-production, Ghosthunters: On Icy Trails makes up for its lack of budget with charm. Director Tobi Baumann strikes a delicate balance – achieving the spookiness of dark cellars and haunted houses – but with a lightness of touch so the very young audience, which this is squarely pitched at, won’t feel they have to hide behind the popcorn; Hugo’s toothy smile and tension-killing quips are never too far away in case that chasing ice field gets too close. While the nasty older sister and the bumbling villain (Cuminseed’s former partner in the CGI) are stock characters, Tom’s parents – especially dad (Christian Ulmen) – bring something else to the table. They’re not distant and aloof like they usually are in these movies but, all to aware of Tom’s unpopularity, desperate to be nice and understanding. It’s a welcome change.
A likeable Parker, who has a role in Tim Burton’s upcoming Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, carries things through and Amy Huberman turns up in a funny cameo. Fun for the younger viewers, not much here for anyone else.