Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review: Welcome Back, Tim Burton

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels like a return to old-style Tim Burton: this long overdue sequel is just as charming, fun, and morbidly deranged as the original.

Coming over 35 years after the original, Beetlejuice 2 is filled with nostalgia, but it also has an emotional core and plenty of surprises in store for both longtime fans of the franchise and newcomers. The film’s premise is similar to that of the 1988 movie – only, some of the roles are reversed now that new generations are introduced. “The living, the dead. Can they coexist?,” asks an adult Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder, of Stranger Things) at the beginning of the movie, talking to the audience of the popular show she hosts, which sees her visit infested houses live on tv and has gotten her quite a reputation. Her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega, of Wednesday), is not a fan of her mum’s work, even more so when the two of them find themselves unexpectedly returning home when Lydia’s dad, Charles Deetz, dies.

“He flew out to watch birds do it for a week and it killed him,” explains Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara), who has never been a fan of subtlety, and who sees the loss of her “horny handyman” as a chance to “unpack the art of sorrow”. Needless to say, Delia joins Lydia and Astrid, and three generations of Deetz women are soon on their way to Winter River, accompanied by Rory (Justin Theroux, of False Positive), Lydia’s producer/boyfriend/”kinda dope dad-dude”-wannabe for Astrid, but she has other ideas on that too.

In fact, Charles’s death is not the only event affecting our protagonists’s lives in the sequel. Lydia has been having visions of Beetlejuice, whose sudden, fleeting appearances may or may not be a figment of her imagination. As Delia goes into full-on artist mode and plans the most hilariously Deetz-like funeral ever, both Lydia and Astrid make some potentially life-ruining choices that eventually lead to someone uttering three very familiar words. But the “ghost with the most” has his own crisis to deal with, with a merciless, soul eating ex-wife (Monica Bellucci’s Delores) coming for him, and afterlife detective/former actor Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe, of Kinds of Kindness) chasing after her. As a series of events threatens to alter the Deetz’s lives and afterlives forever, a trip to a certain waiting room is in order.

What happens next is up to you to find out, but if you go in with no expectations and simply enjoy the ride, you’re going to have so much fun with this movie. Most of the characters from the first film return, each bringing with them the right dose of nostalgia and delivering a mix of throwbacks and new, iconic scenes you won’t forget, from impromptu musical numbers to hilariously macabre moments. Willem Dafoe must have had a blast embodying Wolf Jackson, a character who manages to be, at the same time, extremely serious and supremely silly, and that you simply can’t get enough of.

Justin Theroux is perfect for the role of Rory, and manages to make a mark despite his short screen time, delivering some of the best lines of the film. Beetlejuice owns a call center in the sequel, where his employees are the shrunken head characters from the first movie, and Bob, their improbably manager, is about to become your new favorite hero.

And then there’s Michael Keaton, who effortlessly recaptures the essence of his character aided by a script (Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith) that also gives him a heart, in his own unique way. Our bio-exorcist is stil completely insane, but he’s also resourceful enough to earn our respect, and we also get a backstory of sorts that really makes us feel for him and eventually has us rooting for his success. Monica Bellucci is fantastic in every single scene she’s in, even though her character serves absolutely no purpose in the story. On top of this, a couple of jokes don’t land and the ending feels a bit like an afterthought, as the film reaches its resolution very quickly and without a real conflict. But does it even metter, when the movie is so utterly enjoyable?

From the moment the first notes of Danny Elfman’s incredible score start playing and the familiar Burton aerial opening scene fills the screen, we’re completely engrossed by a film that you’ll want to watch again as soon as the screening is over. Beetlejuice 2 combines the best of old-style Tim Burton with worldbuilding that takes full advantage of today’s technologies, becoming all the more stunning and magical. There’s plenty of nostalgia in the sequal, but the story is essentially about family – a family that might even include Betelgeuse himself. This time around, you might not be as scared to say his name three times.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 28, 2024, as the Opening Film of Venezia 81. The movie was released globally in theaters on September 6, 2024 and is now available to watch on digital and on demand.