Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Sequel Magic or Missed Opportunity? A Movie Review by Erin Underwood

Tim Burton returns to direct Beetlejuice 2 (2024), also known as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, in this wickedly wild sequel that takes on the 1988 classic, starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Jenna Ortega. Since so many remakes and sequels this year have fallen flat, despite media buzz and excitement, it was easy to be skeptical about this film. Could it live up to the original? With Tim Burton, most of the original cast, and the unique artistic style of Beetlejuice’s Afterlife, they had a great chance of hitting box office gold, which means this film would live or die on the quality of the dialog and the story (two items that no film can ignore).

Read Erin’s review below or watch the video review on YouTube:

Tim Burton brings us back to his quirky version of the Afterlife, featuring an adult Lydia Deetz (played by Winona Ryder), her stepmother (played by Catherin O’Hara), her teenaged daughter Astrid (played by Jenna Ortega), and of course The Ghost with the Most himself Beetlejuice (played by Michael Keaton). The Deetz family returns home to the “ghost house” after Lydia’s father dies, and with her return Beetlejuice renews his pursuit to get her to marry him. However, this time her daughter Astrid is pulled into the Afterlife with an express ticket on the Soul Train. To save her, Lydia finds herself forced to choose between her smarmy, cash-grabbing TV producer boyfriend and Beetlejuice. (But, ladies, let’s get real here. When these two guys are the extent of your dating pool, you should rethink your life’s choices.) With Beetlejuice up to his old tricks, all hell breaks loose in the Afterlife as his soul-sucking ex-wife Delores literally stitches herself back together and comes looking for him.

First Impressions

As predictable as this film is, it still delivers the laughs. However, as with many sequels, the story runs a little shallow, depending more upon the characters, action, and comedy to get us from Point A to Point B than a complex and meaningful plot. However, the film does a great job of paying off our expectations from scene to scene so that we feel a constant sense of fulfillment throughout the movie. The other thing that Beetlejuice 2 gets right is that it knows exactly the kind of film that it is, which allows it to lean into its strengths so that it doesn’t compete with the original. As a result, Beetlejuice 2 feels additive to the story universe, giving us the space to enjoy the return of the characters we know while also getting to know Astrid better.

Unexpected Themes & Surprises

Beetlejuice 2 felt like the story universe itself had aged a bit, refining some of the rough, edgy dialog and conflicts that we saw in the original and giving the Deetz’s relationships more meaning. There is a real sense of love and family in this film that was absent from the first film, and this change is part of the reason that Beetlejuice 2 feels more mature. Despite the broken nature of her adult character, the strong family foundation within the film also gave Lydia the focus that she needed to recover the strength she had lost over the years when she realized that her daughter was in mortal danger. By elevating the themes of love and family, Tim Burton makes Beetlejuice 2 a fun movie experience for the whole family, though some of the concepts may be a little scary for very young children and they won’t understand the more adult jokes.

The Unique Style and Setting

The visual elements of the film remain uniquely Beetlejuice from the artistic design of the set to the creative clothing and the bold color palette – not to mention the use surreal imagery and distorted shapes. Even better, the production didn’t resort to too using as much CGI as we see in many films nowadays. Instead, they (again) leaned into the story rules established in the original film to keep the same aesthetic look and feel of the world, which meant that they employed more of the traditional foley effects that we would see in the past before CGI took over Hollywood filmmaking. These tactile special effects created a connection to the past that made the sequel feel fresh since we rarely see the old school effect in film lately, and these effects felt perfectly suited for this cinematic experience.

 The Cast and Characters

Most of the original cast returned, with Michael Keaton carrying much of the show with the power of his personality on camera. Whether he’s playing Beetlejuice, Batman, or Mr Mom, Michael Keaton is a powerhouse. With his return to the role of Beetlejuice, we get a sense that he is truly enjoying himself in this film. While he’s still a bit freaky and scary for kids, there’s something a little less sinister about him in Beetlejuice 2, and I think that might be because he seems to have developed a genuine interest in Lydia over the years.

Winona Ryder does a great job with Lydia. She’s older, she’s experienced heartache, and she’s been run down by all the things she has seen in both the physical world and in the ghostly realm. Even though we can feel the age and experiences that Lydia is carrying with her, there is still something sweet and hopeful about her character that I think speaks more to Winona Ryder as a person than as an actress. As a result, there seems to be a natural connection between Winona and Jenna Ortega that carries over into the film and is tangible on screen.

Jenna Ortega is a great addition to the cast. She seems to be picking the right roles for where she is in her career, and the role of Astrid is no exception. She literally “is” the daughter of Lydia Deetz, and you can feel the weight of what it must be like to be the near “lookalike” of her famous mother who has somewhat failed her in the mother department because her career as a TV personality and spiritual medium who can connect to anyone but the one person who Astrid most wants to see – her dead father. We still see the desire for a bond with her mom, and her disappointment that Lydia is so easily swayed by her smarmy manager. Her frustration bleeds through, making Astrid’s character much more compelling and relatable.

There are a ton of other guest appearances and characters in the movie, most of whom are connected to Beetlejuice’s ex-wife Delores. There is a point when film seems like a clown car as the characters just keep coming and coming, but without them there wouldn’t be enough meat to the movie. Plus, they add a lot to the circus-like environment of Tim Burton’s Afterlife, and they are integral to many of the comedic moments. While their elimination might have tightened the script, it would have made the film far too serious, and the surreal setting would have felt strangely out of place.

Recommendation

Tim Burton pulls off a sequel that could have easily failed but didn’t, nailing the sequel magic that so many other films have missed this year. By leaning into the fundamental nature of the story universe and enhancing the family connections within the film, Beetlejuice 2 delivers laughter and fun in this quirky throwback to the 1980s, making it a satisfying and entertaining story. Despite being fairly predictable and overpopulated with characters, it’s a far better film than many of the movies hitting theaters this year, and it makes for a great trip to the theater with friends and family. The artistic style of the film is visually stunning, the music is amusing, and there are some truly magical moments that make Beetlejuice 2 well worth the price of a ticket. This is a film that you want to experience on the big screen.