Rating: 7/10
Going into “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” I didn’t have many high expectations for the film, seeing as it felt like a sequel was both unwarranted and out of nowhere. However, contrary to any expectations set by myself, the sequel to the 1988 classic film directed by Tim Burton proved that the series had more to expand upon with the same level of charm.
Taking place 36 years after the first film, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” sees the return of the Deetz family to their old home in the city of Winter River following the death of a family member. As they mourn their loss, the Deetz family soon finds themselves targeted by the ghost with the most, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), as he is the target of his former wife, Delores (Monica Belluci), looking for revenge.
One small issue with the story is the lack of a menacing threat or force against Beetlejuice and the main ensemble of the “alive” characters.
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It especially gets rough because there are technically three “antagonists” throughout the film that are not that present, and when they finally get their time to shine, they end up meeting their demise.
One major highlight is that “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a wonderful use of practical effects for the movie’s character designs and set design that are reminiscent of the first film.
“It needed a back-to-basics, handmade quality,” Burton said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly about the recreation of the stop-motion effects. “It reenergized why I love making movies.”
This not only made the movie feel like a trip down memory lane but was a nice surprise in a market of movies that love to do things digitally rather than the old-fashioned way.
At the forefront of the film is Keaton’s return as Beetlejuice, and his performance in this film is almost as if no time has passed between the original and its sequel. You can tell that Keaton not only loves this character but that a lot of free reign was given to him in terms of how off-the-wall he was allowed to be with it.
It’s a shame that the character is only in the film for 17 minutes, as he shines in every scene with him.
“He’s such a fun character to write, but he’s not the protagonist of the movie,” said Miles Millar, a co-writer for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in an interview with Variety regarding the 17 minutes of screentime Beetlejuice gets.
Furthermore, Winona Ryder’s return as Lydia Deetz and Jenna Ortega’s performance as Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, not only had great chemistry but acted as a great juxtaposition to how different both of their characters’ personalities are.
While Lydia is all about the dark and mysterious, Astrid wants to stray away from that life, which results in a strained relationship with her mom. The performances by both actors in these roles feel natural, and you feel for their relationship as the story plays out.
The other performances in the film are all well-performed — however, it seems as if the screenplay wanted to focus more on showing off how kooky everyone is; the issue with this is that if everyone acts differently, no one is.
One area in the film that left the audience with more questions than answers was the decisions made toward the “return” of disgraced actor Jefferey Jones’s character from the first film.
Jones himself does not make a return in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” but it’s explained in the film that his character, Charles, died off-screen.
This especially gets confusing because the character gets a conclusion to his story — even if it’s played out to a comedic beat — compared to the Maitland family from the first film, who only get one singular line explaining their absence.
Did “Beetlejuice” really warrant a sequel? Not necessarily, but seeing as how the first film was a product of its own time, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” replicates that same feel of timeliness of the era in which the film was made.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a movie that improves upon the original formula of the classic film that came before it and leaves a nice impression for any possible sequel.
