Movie Review
Nostalgic sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice adds no life to '80s classic
Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Unless you’re a Tim Burton superfan, it’s easy to forget that 1988’s Beetlejuice was only the director’s second feature film, one that would set the template for all the other weird stories and images he would later bring to the big screen. Now, like so many other beloved ‘80s properties, it is being resurrected 36 years later with the legacyequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
It focuses on Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), now hosting a ghost hunter show while still occasionally seeing glimpses of her old nemesis, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). When her father dies in tragic-but-funny fashion, she returns to her family home with daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) to be with her mom, Delia (Catherine O’Hara).
It isn’t long before a series of events summons Beetlejuice back from the underworld, bringing with him mayhem and unexpected people, including a group of people with shrunken heads; Delores (Monica Bellucci), a woman looking for revenge on Beetlejuice; and Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), a deceased former actor who now fashions himself as a type of detective.
Directed by Burton and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (the creators of Netflix’s Wednesday), the film has many of the familiar touches of the original, including multiple grotesque and scary characters. However, Burton’s filmmaking ability turns the images of reanimated bloody corpses, people having their souls sucked from their bodies, and more into fun entertainment, a trick that not many other directors would be able to pull off as well.
What’s missing this time around, though, is a coherent story. Instead of trying to tell one story with some side plots, the filmmakers give equal attention to multiple side plots, never properly bringing them together. Every major character has something different going on, to the point that it feels like there are five different short films vying for the audience’s attention. Beetlejuice is supposed to be the character that ties them all together, but his appearances are so sporadic that it never works.
Naturally, the film is also full of nostalgia for those who loved the original film. The talents of Keaton, Ryder, and O’Hara means the mere presence of their characters will be enjoyable for fans, as will the appearance of the original house and Bob the shrunken head. But other elements don’t work, most notably the awkward centralization of the deceased Charles Deetz, played by the now-disgraced Jeffrey Jones in the first film. They try to be creative in showing him, but it would have been better to explore a different reason to get the gang back together.
The 73-year-old Keaton is still as amusing as ever in the title role, even if he feels like a sidekick to everyone else. Ryder and O’Hara have seemingly turned into their movie personas over the years, so they both feel natural in reprising their roles. Ortega is a rising star, but she’s weirdly not showcased as much as you might expect in the film. Bellucci and Dafoe are given parts that amount to nothing, which is indicative of the larger story problems.
Ultimately, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn’t give a good enough reason for it to have been made. It doesn’t move the characters forward in any significant way, it puts forth retreads of jokes that were funny in the first film, and it has way too much going on storywise. It might have been better for Beetlejuice to remain in the underworld, where he belongs.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens in theaters on September 6.
