Becoming The Muse

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Movie Review

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a 2024 American dark fantasy comedy horror film from the dark and twisted mind of Tim Burton. It is a sequel to the 1988 movie Beetlejuice. It is the second film of the Beetlejuice franchise, with Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles alongside a new cast. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was theatrically released by Warner Bros on 8 September 2024.

The story continues 36 later with Lydia Deetz now the host of a supernatural show. A family tragedy has three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River, where Betelgeuse still lurks and their lives an Afterlife portal away from being turned upside down.

The Good

I have fond memories of the old Beetlejuice movie, I am fairly sure I had no business watching it at the age I was back in the day it came out. I thought it was a hilarious creepfest and Michael Keaton as the titular character was a larger than life obnoxious character you absolutely loved to hate… There has been talks of doing a sequel over the years but it never came to pass, until now.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has some of the original cast reprising their roles and some new actors who managed to fit right into the wackiness. Its been over 30 years since the last the movie and the cast has aged so the characters are older with new relationship dynamics. Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz has grown into a mother of a rebellious teen,  Astrid played by Jenna Ortega (fans might recognise her as Wednesday Adams) and Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, Lydia’s mother and Astrid’s grandmother is an eccentric artist/hostess.

Then there’s Micheal Keaton as Betelgeuse, the character has not gone any character arc and is essentially the same obnoxious, gross and loveable all round dead guy. Keaton looks like he has as much fun doing this sequel as he did in the original movie, slipping back into the role as easily as one slips into a Santa Claus suit and becomes the embodiment of Christmas, but make it creepy, ghostly and Halloween….

The supporting cast are also in their element in the gothic themed movie, there’s Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson a ghost detective and Justin Theroux as Rory who is Lydia’s current boyfriend and TV producer… who hides his toxicity behind some new age hippie facade.

A central character to the Deetz family who does not reprise the role gets a clever work around, including some wacky stop motion explanation on what happened to the character.

The movie uses interesting graphics and animation techniques especially to give backstory or flashbacks which fits into the film’s gothic aesthetic as well as giving it a retro feel for those nostalgic of the era of puppets, prosthetics and stop motion before CGI took over everything.

The Bad

The sequel to Beetlejuice has had several false starts in past and it seems like some aspects of the plots and ideas that had been previously crafted for the other sequel projects found themselves in this one giving it a rather bloated story-line with some many competing subplots from family drama, parenting and relationships to ghosts, vengeful exes and the Great Beyond…

There’s a lot going on, like they just threw everything into the script to see what sticks… Some of it works, some of it falls flat, giving the production an erratic pacing on its quest to answer the question why this movie was made in the first place or who its for, navigating a balance between old(er) fans of Betelgeuse and a  young(er) audience ….

The Ugly

While it has a PG rating its not quite family friendly with some rather disturbing and graphic violence, it aslo explores some mature themes. I am not sure how they managed to swing a PG rating but I would say its one swear word away from being rated R18.

Once again Hollywood does the thing of going into the graveyard of old productions and digging up the corpse of a long forgotten movie and trying to Frankenstein it back to life… Are there no more fresh and original ideas? Should they have made this movie? I would say no.

Final Thoughts

The sequel nobody asked which manages to sneak its way back into our lives and right in time for the Halloween season. If you loved Michael Keaton in the first movie you’ll  like this one. Its not everyone’s cup of tea and some of the magic might be lost on those not familiar with the franchise.

Have you watched Beetlejuice and will you or have you watched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?