Review

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a worthy follow-up to its 1988 predecessor, Beetlejuice. For this much-delayed sequel, director Tim Burton has hewed close to the strengths of the original, repeating them when appropriate and acknowledging them when not. He has not attempted to re-invent the wheel, allowing the 2024 installment to echo the first movie without being a carbon copy; it neither abandons the delightful weirdness of Beetlejuice nor takes viewers much deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole. The film also recaptures key elements (including the title character's appearance) so effectively that it seems it could have been made much closer to the earlier installment than the actual span of 36 years that separates them.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice brings back three actors from the first movie: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara. They reprise, respectively, Beetlejuice (or, more properly, Betelgeuse), middle-aged Lydia Deetz, and Lydia's stepmom, Delia. Charles Deetz, the family patriarch, now deceased, makes an appearance, albeit without the participation of Jeffrey Jones, who played the role in Beetlejuice. In the 2000s, Jones was hit with child porn charges and had to file as a sex offender - this has made him persona non grata for most Hollywood productions. Unwilling to risk box office contamination, Burton contrived a way to bring back Charles without requiring Jones' participation - he wanders through the afterlife without a head (it was bitten off by a shark after he survived a plane crash).

Charles' death instigates an uncomfortable reunion as his family gathers at the New England home Charles purchased decades ago. The original owners of the place, the ghostly Maitlands, have moved on (owing to a "loophole" they discovered), leaving the house free of haunts. Lydia, now the host of a cheesy TV show called "Ghost House with Lydia Deetz," arrives with her producer/soon-to-be-fiance, Rory (Justin Theroux), in tow. Also on hand is Lydia's estranged daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who believes her mother's "abilities" to see dead people are fake. While trying to find ways to avoid Lydia, she encounters Jeremy (Arthur Conti), an awkward-but-helpful young man who invites her over for a Halloween party. Meanwhile, in the afterlife, Beetlejuice, reading about Charles' death, begins to conjure a plan for a reunion with Lydia, but a more pressing need arises: escaping from his ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci), who has been re-assembled in a way that makes her look a little like Sally from the Burton-produced The Nightmare Before Christmas.

As with the first film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels more like a connected series of vignettes than a single, cohesive story. While Beetlejuice is doing his usual schtick (the decision was made to in no way neuter his politically incorrect persona), Lydia is trying to figure out where her life went wrong and Delia obsesses over how to create a performance piece around Charles' death. In the movie's most enjoyable episode, Astrid and Jeremy embark on a Burton-esque game of flirtation. No one does young romance quite like Burton, who mixes his gothic sensibilities with a John Hughes-inspired innocence. This gives Ortega something to do beyond hanging around at the house - a diversion that's welcome because she fits so well into this world. The actress, who has immersed herself in horror of all flavors, is familiar with Burton and writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, since they all collaborated on Wednesday.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice offers small roles to familiar faces. Beetlejuice had Robert Goulet and Dick Cavett. The sequel brings on board Monica Bellucci, Danny Devito, and the suddenly ubiquitous Willem Dafoe. Dafoe in particular is noteworthy. He plays Wolf Jackson, a deceased action star (think a B-movie version of Clint Eastwood), who is now head of the afterlife's police force.

Where "Day-O" functioned as Beetlejuice's anthem, "MacArthur Park" fills that role in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (although "Day-O" is accorded a cameo). Music is an important element. In addition to "MacArthur Park" (both the Richard Harris and the Donna Summer versions are used), Burton spotlights the theme for the TV show Soul Train as well as finding an innovative opportunity to use the BeeGees' "Tragedy."

After a few missteps and/or odd choices for the director (including Dumbo and Dark Shadows), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice puts Burton back in familiar territory and, surrounded by past collaborators and a sense of nostalgia, he thrives. Although it's hard to argue that the world needed another Beetlejuice movie, at least this one seems to have emerged more out of a place of legitimate creativity than cash considerations. In 2024, that seems like a win, which is what the movie delivers to fans who venture into theaters to become reacquainted with one of 1988's most deliciously depraved demons.

© 2024 James Berardinelli

Synopsis

Beetlejuice is back! After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it's only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice's name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

Stills

Playing At

• Malco Smyrna Cinema
  100 Movie Row - I-24 & Sam Ridley Pkwy, Smyrna, TN
• AMC CLASSIC Murfreesboro 16
  2626 Cason Square Boulevard, Murfreesboro, TN