Details from IMDB:
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- 2024
- PG-13
- 1h 44m
- After a 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 teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Michael Keaton
Winona Ryder
Catherine O’Hara
Initial Thoughts:
Doing this in reverse order! I’ll explain, I never put a review for the first movie before and as my wife hadn’t seen it I watched it again last night. When I thought about the review, though, I decided to do this one while it’s still fresh as I saw that today. I am fan of the original “Beetlejuice”, Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder are both excellent actors, and of course Tim Burton, so there was no doubt I would see the sequel.
Main Points:
First off let me say this was a pleasant surprise, while there was a cartoon (which I never watched, just didn’t interest me), I never we would get a sequel but 36 years later and here it is! I wanted to see this opening weekend, so we went to a Sunday matinee, the theatre was maybe half full, which is about right for most movies on an opening weekend. As I mentioned I had just re-watched the first one, so it was great to see this with my memory refreshed and some excitement built up.
I think Burton did a great job answering a lot of questions left from the first movie, namely where did Beetlejuice get the ring from? What happened to Lydia Deetz when she grew up? When will they sing “Day-O”? All of these, including what happened to the ghost couple who lived in the attic, all get answered and you get to have plenty of fun along the way. I think this one has more laughs than the original, moves at a quicker pace and gives us a lot more Beetlejuice, which is all what I wanted!
I do think that if you are unfamiliar with the original you will not get nearly as much enjoyment, while it’s not a requirement to have seen it, not doing so would be less of a connection to the story. Keaton is wonderful as Beetlejuice, maybe even better than his first time, as is Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara. Jenny Ortega, William Dafoe and Monica Bellucci all try their best but really aren’t given a lot to work with. The special effects are way better and I was happy to see some practical effects thrown in. The musical number, while no “Day-O”, is fun and we are left with reminder that of course there could be a Beetlejuice 3 (Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice I hope!) and I would go as long as we get Tim Burton and Michael Keaton.
Final Thoughts:
The movie is PG-13 and of course I saw someone today bring their 6-8 year old into the movie, which I think for most kids is too young. There is some violence, a few curse words and couple of mildly gross parts that I think make this ages 13+. I enjoyed this more than the original and I give it a solid 7.5 out of 10. Tim Burton is one of the most talented and creative directors of our time and it’s great to see him have fun here and give us so many great nods to the original while still advancing the story. Beetlejuice is up to his old tricks but the film has some new ones up it’s sleeves and I was smiling and laughing throughout. I think my only big issue is that several of the characters do so little in the film that the B and C plot don’t amount to much. There is a surprising “death” in the film and I’m hoping for a third, so I would highly recommend this if you enjoyed the original or anything by Tim Burton.