[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
The juice is loose and so am I in my return to writing. What a perfect way to come back, then to write about a legacy sequel to a movie I grew up with and would watch with my parents anytime it would come on basic cable. Director Tim Burton returns to the land of the dead in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a movie 36 years in the making! While it doesn’t succeed in being a creative and laugh riot sequel, it still gives us some impressive acting from its returning cast (and new) and an overall fun time for fans like myself!
Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is now the host of a supernatural show where she explores the paranormal houses of others. Inspired by her own gift to see the dead, she lives everyday seeing those who haven’t moved on, or want to stay behind for their unfinished business. When her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) calls to inform her of her father’s passing, she and her producer boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) travel to pick up her estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) to prepare for the family funeral.
Meanwhile in the land of the dead, Delores (Monica Bellucci), who we come to find out has a past with our famous ghost with the most, has returned to seek revenge on her former lover, Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). Betelgeuse, a businessman still up to his old antics of scaring away others illegally, is warned by detective Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) that Dolores is out for his soul and to make himself scarce. Betelgeuse meanwhile has taken it upon himself to still haunt Lydia, even going so far as pulling her into the classic town model to reunite with his former love, frightening her and making her relive the past.
On the flipside, Lydia must use Betelgeuse, in order to save Astrid who has suddenly found herself trapped in the world of the dead under false pretenses! With all the living and dead running around and running amok, can Betelgeuse help for once, or still has his own sinister and albeit, hilarious ulterior motives?
I grew up on the original 1988 film Beetlejuice. That was one of the movies in a list of movies I can remember always seeing my parents watching on TV. HBO or ABC Family (back then during the 13 Nights of Halloween), this movie was always on. I was always going to go into this sequel with slight hesitation because of that nostalgia impacting my viewing. However, I can say I very much liked this a lot! Note, I “liked” it, I didn’t LOVE it. I liked that Keaton is still very spot-on and hilarious in this role. In fact, all of the returning cast feels like they’re not phoning it in and have been doing their roles for the last three decades! Even the new cast has charm and is a nice inclusion.
While it takes a while to get the action and really get to the guts of this story, the buildup in between still has some nice scenes, especially between the women of the family. At the heart of this franchise is family and it was nice to explore the ups and downs of what Lydia, Delia, and Astrid have all gone through. Then when the action does hit and Lydia and Betelgeuse have to work together, the fun and laughter can easily begin. Kudos to Burton and the behind the scenes crew for also doing the most with practical effects instead of relying on cheap CGI or (with our current world) AI to build the world around. One of the best uses of practical effects in this are the shrunken heads, led by a breakout star, Bob.
I can positively say that I really liked Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It is in a nice list of legacy sequels that don’t tarnish their reputation they’re spent years building. Instead, this film can leave audiences like myself with a satisfied conclusion (and a wonderful soundtrack to boot) and feeling that this sequel was warranted!
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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