Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.)
Release Date: Sept. 6
It has been almost four decades since the Maitlands went over that bridge in Beetlejuice and now the Ghost with the Most is back to cause a deranged disarray of delightful disorder for a new generation.
And even though most of the original cast and its director return to the spotlight for the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn’t quite the ghost that fans remember.
All grown up, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) returns to the town of Winter River and the home of her youth with her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) after a family tragedy. Soon enough, Astrid finds herself in a bit of trouble which allows the trickster demon to once again cross over to the mortal realm and cause havoc in the lives of the Deetz family.
Tim Burton returns to the director’s chair for the long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, reuniting with star Michael Keaton as he slips back on the iconic striped suit as the titular character. Ryder and O’Hara also seem at home as they settle back into their iconic roles as Lydia and Delia. Joining the resurrection is Ortega of Wednesday fame, as well as Justin Theroux as Rory, Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson, and Monica Bellucci as the beautiful, undead Delores, the ex-wife of Beetlejuice.
While the film hits all the zany, dark notes of the original, it tries a bit too hard, packing a bit too much story and too many characters into the overly complicated comedy. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn’t allow its audience a moment to breathe or enjoy its surroundings, barely scratching the surface of the mundane bureaucracy of the underworld and throwing too many villains, scoundrels, and she-demons for the moviegoer to enjoy. As a result, talents such as Dafoe’s Hollywood actor-turned-spectral law enforcement officer Jackson goes wasted while Bellucci leaves little to be remembered other than her stunning looks.
On the bright side, Keaton continues to amuse as the bio-exorcist, as he carries most of the film on his worm-eaten shoulders, while Ryder shines in the spotlight as a grown up Lydia whose haunted past seems to exert itself more than just a woman who never got past her high school haircut.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice might bring a smile to the face of die-hard fans, the overloaded script works to the detriment of the story, as it holds back news characters from from the spotlight and stops audiences from enjoying the strange charm of the afterlife the original highlighted so well. As a result, the sequel, while offering moments of entertainment, force feeds the audience jokes, story, and exposition at a neck-breaking speed, forgoing the demented yet bewitching appeal that made the original so endearing.
Image Via Warner Bros.
