Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review

September 11, 2024 at 8:34pm
By Jason Stettner

It’s been a long time since Beetlejuice graced the cinema and it’s a bit shocking to actually be at the point of a follow-up. It’s most certainly a cult classic film that has only grown in intrigue from the general populous since its debut ever so many decades ago. What we’re greeted with here is about as great as we could have asked for in terms of not being too fan servicing and moving the plot along. It’s fun, rather enjoyable and just an easy going watch.

It’s a tad all over the place in terms of the plot lines with elements being just straight up dropped but that was always Beetlejuice. Chaotic randomness and you bask in the wild frantic moments that happen through the course of this ride. There’s a tragedy in the Deetz family and three generations find themselves back in the sleepy home of Winter River.

Being in this town tends to cause things to get a bit hectic and we find Lydia (Winona Ryder) trying to help her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) deal with a journey through the afterlife. You of course can’t have a Beetlejuice movie without the star Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) being at the center of the mess. He’s dealing with a troublesome past flame which is an underdeveloped plot while still trying to get Lydia to become his bride. There are hijinks, weird situations and wacky times to be had by all.

The trademark Tim Burton style is all over this piece from the odd designs to the spooky world at play. It’s not quite at its peak but it was nice to see a return to a simpler look from the director. It’s a well contained film focusing on specific locations and once again being more intimate with that approach. There were some rougher CGI moments throughout but it largely looked fine and you’ll be more engrossed with the action taking place than that aspect of it all.

It really did have some unique set pieces, over the top moments and some freakier spots throughout. The costumes and make-up covered characters were really cool too when those spots popped in. The performances here were all very dedicated to the weirdness from musical segments to some of those creepier bits that the director is known for.

The original cast strangely snuck right back into their old roles despite the passage of time and Keaton is still zipping around although it did feel like they presented it in a way to hide his aging here. For an eternal being, he does come across as basically the same despite the passage of time which was very special. I also found Jenna Ortega to be a welcomed addition to the group although her storyline could have used more work, as each of the storylines here could have.

The Conclusion

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is fun, it’s a serviceable continuation that doesn’t fall into that trap of just being a stiff nostalgia trip which I appreciated. It’s got some wild scenes, great musical bits and solid performances. Beetlejuice feels fresh and exciting as a character and hopefully we’ll get a third entry before it’s too late I suppose. It also does suffer from story lines that come and go without a moment’s notice but that frantic style was what the original felt like as well.

I could see some feeling that a lot of it was messy but to me that was on brand for what the character and world is about. It’s not necessarily a gold standard for follow-ups but it was certainly an enjoyable time and far better than I expected. I left the cinema satisfied and that’s more than I could have asked for going in.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review at Theater with Standard Viewing
Screening Provided by Warner Brothers

Rating Overall: 7.2