Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Review
6.5/10
Number of watches at time of review: 2
synopsis
When a tragedy occurs, the whole Deetz family returns to the Maitland house, and almost thirty-five years after her initial encounter with the titular demon, Lydia Deetz is beginning to see Betelgeuse again. She’s forced to reckon with her visions and, more importantly, her relationship with her teenage daughter.
spoiler-free review
Though an unnecessary sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun romp with some excellent special effects and hilarious sequences. Despite a slow start, the film picks up by the midway point and is an engaging and fun time from then on. The returning actors are all wonderful, with Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara as standouts. Effortlessly helped by a wonderful score by Danny Elfman, the atmosphere of the movie is perfect for spooky season, and the set and costume design also do not disappoint in that regard.
There’s no way to review Beetlejuice Beetlejuice without comparing it to the original. The much beloved 1988 classic sets a high bar for any sequel, and though it’s a difficult tone to accomplish again, eventually Beetlejuice Beetlejuice comes into its own as a fully realized movie of its own that somehow maintains the campy and delirium-filled atmosphere of the original.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
directed by Tim Burton
screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Seth Grahame-Smith
based on characters created by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson
cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos
music by Danny Elfman
spoiler review
The start of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is its main weakness. It starts by showing us what the living Deetz family members have been up to since 1988, how Lydia (Winona Ryder) has her own TV show and Delia (Catherine O’Hara) has become a famed visual and performance artist. There’s some shoddily done exposition about Lydia’s strained relationship with her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), and a wonderfully hammy performance from Justin Theroux as Rory, Lydia’s manager and boyfriend. All of this lead up to what everyone is truly here for – the afterlife shenanigans – feels slow, and a bit boring to sit through, although there are some key acting moments that make it feel worth it.
When the afterlife is finally shown, it feels like the movie is finally finding its footing. There’s a brief, hilarious cameo from Danny Devito as a janitor, which coincides with the introduction of Betelgeuse’s ex-wife, Delores (Monica Belluci). The accompanying musical number throws the audience right back into the campy style of the first movie, and successfully sets up Delores as a malevolent force. However, as the movie goes on it begins to seem that Delores is a bit of an unnecessary character. She has very few lines, and mostly just walks around the afterlife killing nameless characters while looking for Betelgeuse. The whole plotline with her could’ve been removed and nothing would change in terms of the story.
The story in general was a bit sloppy, with some of the characters weakly written and unnecessary. Most of the characters, though, are wonderfully done, and when the dialogue works it really works. The combination of writing and acting from Catherine O’Hara and Michael Keaton, specifically, garnered some huge laughs. The jokes were well-written, but it absolutely wouldn’t have worked as well with anyone else: their delivery as Delia and Betelgeuse are unmatched. Another character that got a lot of laughs was Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), though his character was one of the pieces of the movie that felt a bit unnecessary. Some side characters would be offscreen for long enough that by the time they returned I’d have forgotten they were even in the movie.
One side character that didn’t need to be shown at all is Richard (Santiago Cabrera), Astrid’s father and Lydia’s ex-husband. It was as if he appeared solely to solve Lydia and Astrid’s interpersonal problems for them, a way to work around having them actually talk to each other and figure out their problems by communicating. Richard shows up, saves Astrid and Lydia from the sandworm, tells them to love each other, and then makes them leave him in the afterlife. There’s also no resolution to why Lydia is unable to see him as a ghost. A much more satisfying end to that plotline would have Lydia and Astrid learn that he’s moved on, which is why they can’t see him, and then have them save each other and work out their issues properly.
Some characters that should’ve had more a spotlight are Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam (Alec Baldwin) Maitland from the original movie. Their absence is explained away by saying they’ve moved on to the next stage of death, but they’re not even shown in photographs or anything of the sort. In comparison to how Jeffrey Jones’s likeness as Charles Deetz is used often in the movie despite him not actually appearing, it feels as though the writers didn’t even want to acknowledge the Maitlands and begrudgingly threw in that line as a way to placate fans of the original. It’s an unsatisfying end to the Maitlands’s story in that the audience doesn’t get a chance to say goodbye. Something akin to the stop-motion sequence of Charles’s death would have been a better sendoff to those characters, but alas, there’s no such scene.
The plot as a whole has a satisfying ending, especially when Delores and Rory are both consumed by a sandworm. Seeing Rory’s demise is truly cathartic, especially after he admitted to only being with Lydia for the money. Delores’s death was also earned, because of her having killed Bob (Nick Kellington). The other part of the ending that wraps up well is Lydia finally defeating Betelgeuse for the final (?) time, and seeing her smug satisfaction as he explodes.
In terms of effects, all of the practical ones were incredible, as one would expect from a Tim Burton movie. Seeing the stop-motion sandworm again and all the other stop-motion throughout is a joy. Any CGI, however, looks quite bad. Specific moments that stand out are when Lydia and Rory fall through the Alice in Wonderland-esque hole, and at the end when all the influencers get sucked into their phones (Another plot point that didn’t get a real ending. Did they ever get let out of the phones? We may never know). Tim Burton’s disdain for CGI really makes sense when you see how these shots look.
A visual highlight, though, is all of the costuming and hair and makeup. Each look that the characters are in are very fitting for their personality, and work perfectly for the atmosphere of the movie. Delia and Lydia’s outfits, especially, were very well done. You could really tell each character’s personality just from how they looked, it was wonderful visual storytelling.
Auditorily, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a delightful time. Danny Elfman truly is incapable of composing a bad score, and it fits the film’s tone so well, blending spooky and funny. The soundtrack is great as well, and all of the song choices really work for the scenes they’re in. The standout, of course, is the finale “MacArthur Park” wedding sequence, wherein Betelgeuse makes all of the characters lip-sync along to the song and do an entire dance number as a ghostly band plays the background music. It’s a delightful number that works just as well as the “Day-O” sequence from the original.
personal connection
I’ve only seen the original 1988 classic a couple of times, but I have a strong fondness for it. The iconic style of the practical VFX and distinctive music have stuck with me, even though it’s been a little while since I’ve seen the film. Something that has definitely also contributed to my love of Beetlejuice is the fact that I adore the musical, and was even lucky enough to see it live right before it closed on Broadway. I could talk for a long time about how much I love the musical, but that’s an article for a different day.
final thoughts
All in all, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a solid sequel and a fun movie for the autumn/Halloween season. It works best as a movie to watch with some friends and/or family who will appreciate the raunchy and campy humor.