Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

 

Genre: Horror/ Comedy

Time: 1h 44mins

Director: Tim Burton

Quick Summary: After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.

Get yourself a man who will show as much devotion to you as Beetlejuice did for Lydia.

I'll admit I was sceptical about this, being it is a sequel to a beloved film, and with how films have been recently with sequels I had good reasons. Honestly, I was surprised. I wouldn't go out of my way to say this is an amazing sequel, but it's genuinely okay. It's fun and nostalgic, and there is nothing wrong with that if it's done well, which this has managed to do. I was so worried it was going to shove the same rehashed jokes from the first one, with the same sort of plotline.

A lot of the humour is the same; pervy jokes, nods to over things, fast-talking nonsense, and just hilarious out-of-nowhere scenarios. Micheal Keaton still has a lot of charm and perfect comedic timing, so I have zero complaints about him. He is chaotic and full of mischief, and his thought process seems wackier than ever. Lydia is more mature thanks to an older Wyonia Ryder and I loved all the emotional complexity she brought, anxiety and paranoia. She feels more relatable and realistic as a person who can see ghosts in her everyday life. Shame that not a lot of time was spent on her and Jenna's character relationship. 

Jenna Ortega took me a little while to warm up to as she felt a bit bland and just there for most of the beginning scenes, as well as a version of the stereotypical goth for modern audiences, which I ended up liking as it didn't feel too put on. Also, I found her pretty funny with her snarky nature and her really sharp comments, like when she meets her boyfriend who is reading crime and punishment, only to say "Oh, you're one of them". Willem De Foe is weird as always and I'm loving it. Catherine O'Hara is iconic as always too, and I actually found her funnier in this than the first one.

Visually, the film stays true to Burton’s signature style: gothic, macabre, yet whimsical. Still full of vibrant greens, purple and black. Of course, the brilliant Danny Elfman was there for the music, so don't worry.

There were a lot of storylines going on and that is where this lost me. The first major one I will get out of the way is Monica Bellucci. Initially, her part interested me and I thought it would make for some fun moments of "you just missed them", or they walk right past each other without realising. Unfortunately, it was more her walking around looking pretty. Nothing happens with her apart from explaining how Beetlejuice died. Seriously, even the ending with her sucked as I was expecting more of a showdown. It wasn't even a conversation. Really if you took her out the film would have stayed almost the same. 

The whole thing about Jenna's character's boyfriend plot I was 50/50 on too, as I predicted half of the twist within five minutes, because the first half was so obvious it was painful, but the second half surprised me. I ended up being annoyed about it though because it never got explained and then, it was over. Really it was used as a quick way for Lydia to get Beetlejuice's help, but I can excuse it because I wouldn't want to get back in context with someone who forced me to marry them. 

Speaking of marrying though, the wedding scene ATE. That was honestly so fun to watch and I'm still thinking about it almost a week later. It tops the dinner scene from the first one. Imagine that, combined with the most out-of-pocket dream sequence, but "Richard Harris - MacArthur Park " is playing too. I won't spoil it too much, but that was the highlight of this film for me and just bundles up all the wacky stuff that was loved in the first Beetlejuice.

A few more storylines are going on at the same time as the one I've mentioned, but I won't talk about them as I have spoiled enough already. Separately, they are all good (Minus Monica's), and could have worked with more time on them, or maybe condensed down to two storylines at once. All of them being together made no room for much development or much enjoyment of things before it had already moved on. 

This is a good film and it's a lot better than most sequels but it tried too hard to fit things in. The first one was so good because of how simple it was, maybe this should have taken a leaf out of that handbook. Fans of Beetlejuice or people not wanting much out of a film will enjoy this, but on it's own its a little weak. 

7/10

"The juice is loose!"

"Wolf Jackson: Recognize this puss?

Beetlejuice: Never seen that chick before in my life. Or afterlife."

"I've spent so much time talking to the dead, it's time I started living."