The juice is loose! Tim Burton is back with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the follow up to his iconic 80s horror/comedy. I went into this with a lot of excitement along with some serious trepidation, as I adore the original and these types of late sequels can have wildly varying degrees of quality. Luckily, this doesn't fall into the Independence Day: Resurgence or Space Jam: A New Legacy vein of legacy sequel, instead following along with Twisters as a film that keeps the spirit of its original alive but updated for the modern day.
Whether you should go see this entirely depends on your thoughts on the first one. If you're a fan, I can't see you not at least having a fun time revisiting this world. If you aren't a fan, nothing here is going to win you over. As someone who loves the first, I had a really great time. It isn't without its faults by any means, but this fully brings back the tone and style of the first film in a great way. This film follows the Deetz family returning back to the scene of the first film after Lydia (Winona Ryder) finds out her father has passed away. She goes back to Winter River with her stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara), daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), and manager/lover Rory (Justin Theroux). While back home, the afterlife comes back to haunt them as Beetlejuice is back to his old tricks.
It's hard to really describe the plot because it's the biggest issue the film has. Narratively this is a mess through and through. You can't count on one hand the number of hardly related plot lines that make up this runtime. I actually enjoyed each storyline, the problem is that none of them feel like they have enough time to shine. Lydia and Astrid's relationship is a focal point of the film, but it often feels like that is tossed aside to briefly service another story, only to jump back to the two and leave that side plot untouched for a stretch of time. Monica Belluci is at the center of one of these subplots and despite a really great performance and a role that should be highlighted, she is often cast aside for long periods of the film. The same can be said of Willem Dafoe, who I loved here but felt severely underused. One thing I will praise narratively though is how the film tackles the mother/daughter relationship, as the chemistry between Ortega and Ryder is truly special and seeing their relationship progress throughout the film is a real treat. I also love how Jeffrey Jones was written out of this, his character's death is what brings the family back together but the way his character is killed off is hilarious and sets a terrific standard for how we should handle cancelled celebrities in franchises like this.
The narrative struggles are my only real gripes, I loved a lot of this movie. A while back Michael Keaton talked about the use of practical effects and costumes rather than reliance on CGI and that's one of my favourite things here. There are of course some digital effects, but so much of the movie is crafted with terrific set design, with stop motion animation being used for things like the sand worms rather than CGI. The costumes are just as great as the original's and we get to explore more of the afterlife this time around where the set design is top notch. One of the biggest things this takes from the original though is how damn fun it is. The pacing is a bit inconsistent but everything is so much fun, whether it be those technical elements, the script, or the great ensemble of performances.
At the heart of the ensemble is Winona Ryder, one of my absolute favourites who is back to her strange and unusual ways. She doesn't quite have the gravitas she once had, but she still carries this really well and it's great to see her back in the role that made her famous. Jenna Ortega is no stranger to spooky movies (or even spooky tv shows), but she really was made for this universe. She fits in so well as Lydia's daughter and brings a ton of heart here that I think would have been missing otherwise due to the absence of Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis. As I said before, I love Ryder and Ortega together, they feel destined to act alongside one another and I adored their time on screen together. Michael Keaton is back in the titular role, and he's fantastic as always. Despite it being over 35 years since the original, he still manages to reach ridiculous levels of energy in this performance, and we actually get a lot more of him on screen this time around. Catherine O'Hara is hilarious, she's basically doing the same thing she did in Schitt's Creek but it works for the character so I can't complain. The only member of the cast I wasn't crazy about was Justin Theroux, I didn't dislike him by any means, but in a cast full of great performances I just never really connected with him.
So I'm happy to report that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice passes the vibe test. It isn't as good as the original, nor does it need to be, it's a long awaited follow up that matches the energy of what came before and cements itself as a worthy follow-up. I see no reason this won't work as a double feature for many Octobers to come, it's great to see Burton back to what he does best.
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