Directed by Tim Burton

Like many adult weirdos, I have intense nostalgia for the 1988 macabre comedy Beetlejuice. The strange combination of slapstick comedy with body horror, ghosts, and an unforgettable performance from Michael Keaton formed a movie that kind of shocks me to this day. I have no clue how they managed to get a PG rating for a movie where Michael Keaton honks his crotch and says the iconic line “Nice fuckin’ model!” and it seems even the filmmakers knew that because the sequel has quietly upgraded to a PG-13, presumably to avoid a riot from concerned parents who didn’t watch the original too closely. With 36 years under its belt, as well as a shelved sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has a lot to live up to, but with the director and most of the original cast returning, does Beetlejuice Beetlejuice have what it takes to stand with the original classic? Let’s talk about it.

Picking up about 30 years after the original, we meet up with Lydia Deetz (played by a returning Winona Ryder), now the host of a ghost-hunting style talk show and mother to the angsty teenage Astrid (played by Jenna Ortega). When a family tragedy brings all the Deetzs back to Winter River Connecticut, their squabbling and grief are interrupted by a blast from the past. The ghost with the most hasn’t forgotten about Lydia, and still pines for his onetime fiancée, even as a mysterious woman from his own past returns. At the same time, Lydia has her hands full, not just with her growing fear of the return of Beetlejuice or her strange boyfriend/agent, but navigating her relationship with her daughter who doesn’t believe in ghosts – and would rather hang out with a cute boy from town than be around her family.
 
I gotta cut to the chase here and answer the question that’s on everyone’s mind: Is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice funny? The quick and easy answer is yes, yes it is still funny in many of the same ways that made the original great. Aside from the obviously wacky and funny antics of Beetlejuice, of which there are many, the dialogue has the same droll wit that I expected, and the character-driven nature of the comedy is as good as ever. Catherine O’Hara in particular returns as Delia Deetz and damn near steals the show, her brand of over-the-top delivery fits perfectly and contrasts beautifully with the more dour nature of many of the other characters. Another show stealer is Willem Dafoe, who plays Wolf Jackson, a deceased actor turned pretend ghost detective who takes it upon himself to investigate a series of ‘soul suckings’ in the afterlife while being as dramatic and absurd as possible. There are even a few other cameos that I won’t spoil because they were quite fun.
 
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s visual design is another huge win for me, the vast majority of what we see is good old-fashioned practical effects with the same loving approach that the original used for its bizarre sense of visual humor. Unlike the original though, everything here is bigger, you see more of the afterlife, and more visual gags, including some really gnarly ones that I’m surprised they went with. Not all of the visual gags are great, some of them drag on a bit once you get the joke, but I am happy to say that after watching the original Beetlejuice the night before in preparation, there didn’t seem to be a lot of recycled jokes, except for some very broad ones that are kind of standard for movies like this. So far this has been a very positive write-up, I did find Beetlejuice Beetlejuice fun and charming, but now we need to talk about the movie’s problems because it has a ton of them.
 
If the story summary above sounded a little jumbled and complicated, that’s because it was both of those things while also being story-lite for a good portion of its runtime. The main storyline of the movie concerns Astrid’s resentment of her mother following the death of her father, and if that doesn’t sound funny to you then you would be correct. A  huge amount of scenes in the first half of the movie are solely awkward scenes between Astrid and Lydia, and that didn’t endear the new character to me at all. Eventually, the plotline involving Lydia and Astrid evolves, but that takes way too long and the film seems to be spinning its wheels story-wise until then. The good news is that I liked the way the story changed and the back half of the movie had a lot more comedy and interesting stuff happening. The bad news is that this all happens at about the same time so we get 4 or 5 plotlines trying to resolve themselves in the same scene and it gets a little hectic.
 
Because everything feels so jumbled a lot of side characters don’t get enough screentime, or the chance to make a real impression of their own. Monica Bellucci plays Demora, who is supposed to be the villain of the movie but only has about three scenes. They’re great scenes, especially her introduction, but why spend the time with introducing this character if she’s going to be completely underutilized, down to her final appearance? It’s the same story with Dafoe’s character, he’s a ton of fun, has a great introduction and whenever he’s in a scene I’m happy, but he never really matters to the story, so even though his scenes are great and I’d never want them cut, it never feels like those scenes have anything to do with the main story. This stuff doesn’t make me hate the movie, but it feels like a lot of missed opportunities to make the movie better. Speaking of, the ending of one of the worst offenders in this regard, where so many plot lines have been brought up so quickly that they all need to be resolved all at once, which at best feels rushed and at worst feels like they had no clue how to finish the story they started.
 
At the end of the day, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was still a fun movie. There was enough wit and imagination to keep everything going during the slower moments, but when things finally got moving the experience mostly fell into place. Sure, this isn’t Citizen Kane, but this came out 36 years after the original with the same director and most of the original cast returning, so I’m ready to forgive a lot because of how damn charming this whole movie was. It feels clunky in places and doesn’t reach the heights it could or should have, but it’s still awesome to see Michael Keaton back as the ghost with the most, and I guess that’s all I really wanted. I would generally recommend this for people who are big fans of Beetlejuice, but maybe not for people who aren’t familiar with the first movie. Also, it was a little weird there was a scene with a Chinese laundromat worker speaking broken English, that I am feeling odd about.