Disclaimer: This review contains mild spoilers for Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
The Juice is once again loose.
36 years after the theatrical release of Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s ghost with the most is back to haunt a new generation of moviegoers in a rollicking sequel that, for all of its faults, ultimately manages to justify its own existence.
The original film follows Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), a recently deceased couple who enlist the help of the titular “bio-exorcist” to rid the idyllic country home they haunt of its new yuppie owners. Two of the aforementioned yuppies are the neurotic Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara) and her moody step-daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), who secretly harbors the ability to communicate with the dead.
Delia and Lydia take centerstage in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which sees them returning to the fictional Winter River, CT to bury their family patriarch, Charles (played by disgraced actor Jeffrey Jones in the 1988 film), in the wake of his untimely, off-screen demise. In the present day, Lydia is the host of a paranormal talk show produced by her bizarro husband Rory (Justin Theroux) and relies on psychiatric medication to suppress her day-to-day encounters with spirits. Lydia struggles to connect with her own skeptic daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who has yet to come to terms with her parents’ divorce and the passing of her own father (Santiago Cabrera) several years earlier.
Meanwhile, a soul-sucking spirit named Delores (Monica Belucci) wreaks havoc throughout the afterlife, in her vengeful pursuit of an old flame who murdered her with an axe centuries prior… and who just so happens to be Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) himself. Delores’ trail of vanquished specters is under investigation by Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), a former B-movie actor who futilely advises Betelgeuse to keep a low profile. Wolf’s warning revitalizes Betelgeuse’s quest to reconnect with Lydia, whose hand in marriage would allow him to escape the clutches of Delores once and for all.
Unlike its predecessor, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is quite expansive in scope, spending most of its runtime outside the confines of the Maitland residence. This choice largely works, as the world of the film is populated with an ensemble of lively (and not-so-lively) eccentrics that are fun to watch. As a result, however, the story has a much less effective human throughline than the original. One of the reasons Beetlejuice worked so well was the contrast that its two leads brought to the madcap dreamscape into which they were thrust. Nearly every offbeat character here is afforded their own bonkers side plot, and while they tend to stick the landing, none feel quite as emotionally grounded as Barbara and Adam’s story. A case could be made for Astrid and Lydia’s, but from their very first interaction, the nature of their joint arc is completely obvious and self-evident.
The first forty minutes are the film’s weakest by far. It is without question that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice could not have gotten made had it not been for the recent career triumphs of Winona Ryder (Stranger Things), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), and Jenna Ortega (Wednesday). The screenplay, penned by Wednesday co-creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, initially affords its wealth of talent little more to do than spewing mouthfuls of overwritten expository dialogue to catch the audience up on where the Deetzes have been in the interim years. During this segment, Ryder and O’Hara’s roles feel more like a defanged, generic retread of their greatest hits than a reintroduction to the standout characters we met back in Beetlejuice. Even Ortega, the franchise’s exceptionally talented newbie, has trouble establishing Astrid as more than just a family-friendly amalgam of Wednesday Addams, Ellie Alves, and Tara Carpenter. The writers’ awareness of Ryder, O’Hara, and Ortega’s stature in the zeitgeist is all-too apparent in early scenes, much to the movie’s detriment. At one point, Astrid unsubtly shouts out Scream by citing Edvard Munch’s The Scream painting– upon which the Ghostface killer’s iconic mask is based– as a past Halloween costume.
As far as long-awaited sequels are concerned, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice manages to pull off a rather impressive feat: it recovers from an uninspired first act just in time for the second. A brilliantly set up twist unveils the thrust of the plot for the remainder of the movie, which goes on to make much better use of its exceptional lead cast. Initially somewhat docile in her delivery of Delia’s scene-stealing zingers, Catherine O’Hara lets it rip once her plotline takes an unexpected turn. It’s the kind of risky narrative pivot the Tim Burton of old earned himself a cult following by making in his earlier works and it pays off beautifully in this particular instance. A strategically underused Michael Keaton ratchets up the lunacy in each and every scene, reminding viewers of why they fell in love with his performance as Betelgeuse in the first place. His unfinished business with Lydia comes to a gratifying head in the final act, which sees Keaton and Ryder slipping right back into their on-screen rapport with ease.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice follows in the footsteps of Beetlejuice by concluding with a flash-forward epilogue. It’s a gratuitous sequence in a movie that’s already stuffed to the brim, and while it fails to fully resonate, it covers enough territory to signal that another follow-up film is unlikely and that the Beetlejuice IP as we know it will now be put to rest.
Burton’s direction, Haris Zambarloukos’ (Belfast) cinematography, Danny Elfman’s score, and Colleen Atwood’s (Alice In Wonderland) costume design work harmoniously in concert to make Beetlejuice Beetlejuice an all-around auditory and visual feast. Burton has spoken at length about returning to the basics of practical effects and using as little CGI as possible to honor the spirit of the Beetlejuice franchise’s first installment. The film balances the sleek polish of digital enhancement with the handcrafted vigor of the original Beetlejuice quite effectively, compromising neither its ability to feel like a modern movie nor the aesthetic integrity that such a beloved follow-up film demands.
In a surprising return to form, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a consistently funny and worthwhile, if wobbly, exhumation of an auteur’s most iconic character. After more than three decades of musing about a revisitation, it’s clear that daylight finally came and Tim Burton wanted to go home– and overall, we’re so glad he did.
Rating: 3.5/5.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is now playing exclusively in theaters worldwide.
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