After almost 30 years, the juice is loose.
Tim Burton came back to direct “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” along with many cast members, including Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Michael Keaton as the titular Beetlejuice. New additions to the cast include Willem Dafoe, Justin Thoreaux and Jenna Ortega, who has worked with Burton in the past on the Netflix series “Wednesday.”
The IMDb synopsis of the film reads, “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.”
To preface this review, let me state that I really had no desire to see this film. When I heard they were making a sequel to “Beetlejuice” almost 30 years after the original, it made me wonder why, and then after one second, I realized why: money.
These “legacy sequels” and reboots have been appearing repeatedly over the past ten years with the first major one being “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.”
While some of these films have been critically acclaimed and had a purpose like, “Blade Runner: 2049,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “T2 Trainspotting,” most of them seem only to exist for Hollywood to make money. Films like “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” “The Matrix Resurrections” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” were not well received by critics.
Because of how beloved the original “Beetlejuice” is, partly because of nostalgia (something Hollywood seems to be banking on), I figured “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” would be more like “The Rise of Skywalker” rather than “Blade Runner: 2049.”
When the film started and the title sequence was almost identical to the original film, I was a little worried.
Then as the film went on, it became an interesting and enjoyable enough film that it did not seem like the entire point of it was to make money. Though I say the film was enjoyable, it was really only enjoyable compared to my low expectations. If it was an original film, it would have been pretty painful to sit through.
My biggest problem was the humor; most of it does not land. While I don’t find the original “Beetlejuice” to be all that funny, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is definitely less comedic.
I also thought it was bizarre that Winona Ryder’s character still had the same exact hairstyle that she did in the first film. It didn’t make sense to me and made it hard to take her character seriously. It felt like she wasn’t playing Lydia Deetz, but instead a continuation of her character in “Stranger Things,” Joyce Byers. She didn’t feel like the same character from 30 years ago, which makes sense since there has been so much time between the two films.
I do feel that Catherine O’Hara did a good job reprising her role as Delia Deetz, but her comedic moments also did not land. The multiple problems with the comedy are, however, most likely script issues rather than performance issues.
Michael Keaton does a surprisingly great job at reprising his role as Beetlejuice. It feels pretty much like the exact same character from the original film, and his character is one of the only ones that actually made me laugh.
Where “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” shines the most is in its autumnal imagery and music. Almost all of the set design is very aesthetically pleasing, and there are many images of red, yellow and orange leaves that fit the subject matter very well.
The film also features songs that fit accompany autumnal imagery very well, like “Somedays” by Tess Parks and “Cry, Cry” by Mazzy Star.
There are two uses of music that were very impressive. The first one takes place to “Tragedy” by Bee Gees during an introduction sequence of the film’s main antagonist, Delores.
The other great use of music is the film’s wedding scene, which is entirely choreographed to “MacArthur Park” by Richaerd Harris. This scene is essentially a new version of the “Banana Boat (Day-O)” scene from the original, but the “MacArthur Park” scene may top the original.
The song is so ridiculous and almost forgotten that it added to the absurdity of the wedding scene perfectly. It felt very similar to watching a scene from a Quentin Tarantino film.
Overall, while there are some good music choices and the set design could make this a new Halloween classic, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a very mediocre movie that doesn’t quite bring anything new to the table.
