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Film: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Year: 2024
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
Starring: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara
Review:
This was a movie that intrigued because there were rumors of a sequel for years. I was shocked that it was decided to finally be made. Getting Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara back is great. Then to cast Jenna Ortega was another draw, especially for younger fans. I was curious as to what they would do with this story. Jaime, my wife, and I decided to go on the opening night since we got a babysitter.
Synopsis: after a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), Lydia’s (Winona Ryder) life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.
We start this with a similar opening of the theme song and getting a lay of the land for Winter River. It then shifts to show us that Lydia has a successful haunted house exploring show. She is doing a recording and gets spooked thinking that she sees Beetlejuice in the crowd. Her manager and boyfriend is Rory (Justin Theroux). He tries to help clear her head to get through recording. This comes to a screeching halt when Lydia learns through her stepmother that her father passed away.
What is interesting here is that Delia (O’Hara) and her have reconciled to an extent. Delia is still doing her art and is traumatized by what happened to Charles. This is given in a clever way, as the original actor didn’t return due to personal reasons and a criminal conviction.
They go to pick up Lydia’s daughter. Astrid thinks her mother is a fraud and that she cannot see ghosts. The reason being that her father passed away. Lydia hasn’t seen him which makes her daughter think she isn’t trying hard enough or can’t. The relationship is strained due to this and the fact that Astrid despises Rory. Delia doesn’t care for him either.
They converge on Winter River to settle the estate and mourn the loss. We shift to the Afterlife where Charles is finding his way. There’s a bigger problem though. Beetlejuice was married previously to Delores (Monica Bellucci). She returns to life and we see that she’s a soul eater. She is bent on revenge for her former lover. He on the other hand still thinks that he has a shot with Lydia, the one that got away. Astrid finds romance herself in the form of an odd boy named Jeremy (Arthur Conti), who lives in town. Things aren’t always as they seem though as the Deetz family will need each other’s help to get through.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is by saying both Jaime and I had fun here. Getting this group of characters back, Tim Burton directing and Danny Elfman doing the music is a magical combination. I even like that now Lydia is an adult, she understands Delia more than when she was an angsty teen. To keep that they bring in Astrid. Another good aspect here is the fact that they’re exploring more of the Afterlife. This also goes darker than the original, which I appreciate as well.
Let me then start to delve deeper here into what we’re getting. There are three major stories going on. First let’s go over Lydia’s. She was married previously to Richard (Santiago Cabrera) before he passed away. They were already divorced by then as a warning. Astrid thinks her mother is a fraud because she cannot see him and this bothers her. Lydia wants to, but she cannot control who visits her. This needs to be resolved. Not the first time we’ve seen this idea play out, but I don’t hate it being used either. There are things that just aren’t communicated as part of the reason. She is also being haunted by Beetlejuice and is seeing Rory, who isn’t good for her. She allows things to happen around her without speaking up. Lydia needs to find that defiant teen that she was growing up. I’m glad they got Ryder back for sure.
I think next let’s look at the titular character. They are softening him here since he was a villain originally. At the least you could call him an anti-hero. Regardless, he’s a complicated individual. It feels like they’re taking inspiration from the cartoon. He has a darker character after him, his widow of Delores. I like this and the concept. My problem is that they introduce her as the main villain and then she disappears for a good 30 to 45 minutes. This brings up an issue I have in that we have too much story for a movie under two hours long. They don’t balance it well enough unfortunately. Keaton is great though and I’m glad that he is back as well.
Then the last part of the story to delve into is with Astrid. She has her issues with her mother which are fine. I like the route they go with her and Jeremy. That was darker than I was expecting. What is good there is showing that Astrid doesn’t know everything like she thinks that she does. She made a bad choice and then must figure things out. That was a positive for me. I’m a big fan of Ortega and she is perfect for this role.
Finishing out with the acting, O’Hara is another one that I’m glad they got to come back here. Theroux fits his role perfectly. Willem Dafoe is here as a deceased actor who played a police officer in movies and then now that he’s dead is playing one in the Afterlife. I love that they got Bellucci for Delores, but I feel this character wasn’t used enough. Conti works as Jeremy. There’s a cameo by Danny DeVito and Burn Gorman. I thought that the acting was great here across the board.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I’ll say that the cinematography and framing are great. They capture this small-town feel. I also love representing the Afterlife as an expressionist nightmare. That is the Burton touch there. The effects were fine. They went CGI with what they needed to. I could tell, but it still looks good there. I also liked the soundtrack. There are a couple of musical numbers that made me laugh. The reference songs from the first movie. The only issue I truly have here is that this isn’t edited well enough for all the story threads to be fully developed.
In conclusion, this is a blast of a movie. I think that it does well in paying homage to the original one while introducing more of the lore and mythology that makes it so interesting. The acting was great. I love the actors they brought back while getting new people like Ortega, Dafoe, Theroux and Bellucci. This is made well from the cinematography, framing and soundtrack. The editing needed a bit more for this flow to be better. This is still worth a watch and is a worthy sequel to the classic that the first film is.
My Rating: 8 out of 10