Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) - Review

Sep 5, 2024

3 min read

The story picks up many years after the original. Lydia is now an adult hosting a haunted house investigation show. She still sees ghosts, but Beetlejuice has left her alone. After her father dies in a tragic accident, she must head back to the house in Winter River with her stepmother, boyfriend and non-believer daughter Astrid. Now that she’s there, maybe Beetlejuice can finally get that wedding he wanted. Of course, Beetlejuice’s ex, might have something to say about that.

While I enjoyed the movie, the script does hold it back. There’s just too much going on. And that doesn’t even consider the subplot with Lydia’s daughter, or Lydia’s new relationship. It all gets very busy as if there were several scripts all jammed into one. It’s a mess. Personally, I didn’t like the storyline with the ex and thought it could have been dropped. It never intersects with the other storyline in a way that enhances the movie. In fact, none of the storylines even resolve themselves well. Everything appears to just run out of steam with an ending tacked on. It’s not terrible, but the script creates its own problem of too much to do with no clear way to have it all work together. It does give us more Beetlejuice though, and that helps. My issue with the original movie was that he felt like a supporting character. Here he gets plenty of opportunity to show us he’s still the ghost with the most.

Visually, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a treat. This is the Tim Burton I like. Many may say it is a return to form, but I tend to view it as him being back (and comfortable) in his element. While I’m sure there would have been some pressure to use CGI more, it does seem that most of the effects are practical. And that works to the movies advantage. A sand worm just wouldn’t look the same. No one does this type of aesthetic like Burton, and for the most part, it remains true to the vision of the original. It all looks great. Does it quite capture all the magic of the first movie? Perhaps not. But it’s close.

Where the movie really shines is with the cast. It’s really a great cast. The newcomers all do a terrific job. Monica Belucci doesn’t have a lot to with her role, but I loved seeing Willem Dafoe hamming it up as an afterlife detective. In terms of the human cast, Justin Theroux is delightfully nauseating as Lydia’s boyfriend, and while Jenna Ortega may borrow a little bit from Wednesday Addams, she makes Astrid her own character.

The returning cast is fantastic as well. Winona Ryder ably plays an adult character that still reminds you enough of the teenager she was. And Catherine O’Hara is just funny and should be protected at all costs. The two of them, along with Ortega, have great chemistry together and are the center of any emotion in the movie.

But it’s all about Beetlejuice and Michael Keaton just crushes it, especially in the second half of the movie where he’s really allowed to play. He hasn’t lost a step and is clearly the best thing about the movie. Give him an irreverent character, let him have fun and he’s bound to give you gold. I can’t say enough positive things about the cast. I just wish they had been given a better script.

Just like the original, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is good, but never great. I liked it about as much as the first movie. It’s fun, but it could have been so much more. If you weren’t a fan of Beetlejuice, this sequel is not going to change your mind. If you were, you don’t need me to tell you to see this.