Tim Burton is one of the most prominent filmmakers working today that has transcended generations of audiences over the years by creating creepy and dark films with an undeniable heart at their center. Beetlejuice in 1988 was Burton’s second feature film that has gained cult status and is a highly beloved tale with a major fanbase that emerges during the year and especially during the Halloween season.
The original film introduced the world to Winona Ryder, as she continued to collaborate with Burton on Edward Scissorhands and Frankenweenie. Having lived as a standalone film since 1988, the news of a sequel 36 years later was intriguing, due to the story feeling concluded in the 80s. With most of the original cast back, including Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Michael Keaton, with the addition of Jenna Ortega, the fate of the film felt promising. Upon seeing it on opening night, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a strong sequel that is propelled by the love of the original with enough of its own tricks to keep it feeling fresh and alive.
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It is 2024 and Lydia Deetz hosts a supernatural TV show in which she communicates with ghosts that have passed on. Upon learning of her father’s death, she and her boyfriend Rory travel back to Winter River in Connecticut to meet with her now widowed mother Delia while bringing along her daughter Astrid. After witnessing visions of the demon Betelgeuse over the last week, Lydia begins to believe that there may be unfinished business at her old home as her wild family comes back together.
Although the plot of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is more layered, part of the enjoyment of the film is seeing where it is headed when the gang gets back together. It has a number of subplots going on at the same time, which may bother some viewers but its balance of the complications of life and the afterlife make the discombobulated nature of the film work.
Astrid is trying to find her own way within her family, Lydia is busy trying to solve the past and the present between her family and Rory, while Betelgeuse is dealing with his own horrors with the emergence of a past figure that seeks revenge. As all of these aspects collide it mirrors the dysfunction of the Deetz family coming back together both physically and spiritually.
Where some sequels struggle to validate its own existence, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice makes a strong case for the continuation of its story as it carves a path for itself as a sequel with the same fun and zany feel as the original. With the use of SFX, it possesses the ability to let loose and bask in its insanity in a way Tim Burton has been known to do in the past. It is evident throughout how much excitement the cast and crew had making the film and its energy blasts off the screen in a way that is contagious to its audience.
The film fits right alongside the 90s and mid 2000s “not-so-scary” Halloween favorites like Hocus Poscus, The Addams Family, and The Corpse Bride. Aside from rare occasions that put the film in a 2024 landscape, the effects and structure of the story make it feel like it coincides with a nostalgic and “not too modern” feel that adds to its respective genre beautifully.
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Jenna Ortega as Astrid and Ryder reprising her role as Lydia, play off one another incredibly. As Winona was to her generation, Ortega feels one in the same for her own age group making their mother and daughter scenes come off as a passing of the baton from one seasoned actress to a new up and coming star.
With Ortega also starring as Wednesday in Burton’s Netflix series, the film highlights how she fits organically into Burton’s worlds. Let’s hope there will continue to be collaborations in the future. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a blast of comedy, “family horror,” and Burton flair that continues a story that audiences grew to love and added even more to its legacy.
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