“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Grade: B-

36 years after Tim Burton’s breakthrough dark-fantasy comedy, Beetlejuice (1988), put the director’s campy-goth sensibilities on the map, he returns to the haunted town of Winter River for an unexpected, long-awaited and overall unnecessary sequel. With the principal players of the original cast returning (Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is an expensive, harmless, occasionally fun bit of nostalgia.

Directing:

Like the original film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice exists midway between comedy, fantasy and horror. It’s an entertaining Halloween movie, with plenty of eye-catching grotesqueries that are made from practical old-school effects. Burton’s goth mise en scéne isn’t as dark or imaginative as it was back in the ‘80s, but that’s to be expected from a past-his-prime auteur just looking to cash a check. If anything, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice proves that Burton can still deliver decent returns when given a big budget, an all-star cast and a readymade premise.

Acting:

Keaton returns as the titular sleazebag demon, and he slips seamlessly back into his performance like a comfortable old shoe, or — more appropriately for a lech like Beetlejuice — a crusty old cumsock. Age has not dulled Keaton’s manic energy, and his perverted charm is even more apparent this time around: he’s practically the hero. On the other hand, Ryder’s return as Lydia Deetz is purposely meant to convey the passage of time. She does a nice job showing the mental toll that comes with a lifetime of E.S.P., and her screen presence is still as transfixing as ever. The rest of the cast is filled with capable veterans — from Willem Dafoe to Danny DeVito — even if their characters are mainly just caricatures.

The only promising newcomer, Jenna Ortega as young Astrid Deetz, isn’t really a revelation despite her likable performance and charismatic screen presence, as her quirky nature and lovable sarcasm is basically lifted from Netflix’s Wednesday (2022), in which she essentially plays the same part. Don’t get me wrong — I think Ortega is great in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but her casting is predictable.

Writing:

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is written by Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, the showrunners of Netflix’s Wednesday (which is also directed by Burton and stars Ortega). Perhaps this film would’ve worked better as a TV series? There are a lot of subplots that are either resolved too quickly (e.g., Jeremy Frazier as Astrid’s brief, undead, love interest), not given enough time to develop (e.g., Justin Theroux as a schmuck who wants to marry Lydia for fame and fortune) or have no idea what they want to accomplish (e.g., Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s soul-sucking ex-wife). As a result, the final act is quite messy, and the narrative intricacies are revealed to be superfluous.

Music:

It wouldn’t be a Burton film without a campy Danny Elfman orchestral score. And it wouldn’t be a Beetlejuice film without an overlong song-and-dance number. In this case, it’s Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park,” which gives off the impression of “funny,” yet never really garners any laughs.

Ending (SPOILERS):

There are so many subplots in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that Burton has painted himself into a corner by the end. Some storylines are swallowed by a trap door to Hell; others by stop-motion sandworms. And the final few minutes, which feature dream sequences within dream sequences and two false awakenings, are narratively confusing rather than artfully cerebral. Because the film has so much trouble with wrapping things up, I’d wager that it’s fair to expect Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sometime in the near future.

“I believe it was Dostoevsky that said…’Later, fucker!’” — Beetlejuice

Why Beetlejuice Beetlejuice gets a B-

Joins the unenviable rank of occasionally-entertaining-yet-altogether-pointless-1980s-nostalgia-bait legacy sequels, like Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2022) and Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).

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