What do “Ghostbusters (2016),” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” have in common? They are all legacy sequels that came out years after the original that no one remembers. This is often the case with legacy sequels – sequels from beloved movie franchises that come out years, often decades, after the original. When this happens, it just seems like the creators can’t quite capture the “lightning in a bottle” effect of the original.
This is why I was scared to see Tim Burton’s newest movie, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the long awaited (and long delayed) sequel to 1988’s “Beetlejuice.” However, Burton, with his fun use of visuals and endless creative energy, creates a sequel that lives up to the original. For the most part. The film stars Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Willem DaFoe, Monica Belluci, Jenna Ortega and of course, Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice. All of the cast does great, especially Ryder, Ortega and Keaton. Ryder, reprising her role as the macabre-obsessed Lydia Deetz, carries a lot of the emotion and heart of the film. In the film, Lydia is dealing with a good amount of loss; prior to the events of the film, she has lost her husband and has a fractured relationship with her daughter Astrid, played by Ortega. Her role has a bit more emotion than it did in the original, yet she doesn’t let the tragedy of her character bog down the film’s zaniness. Also, if I had a nickel for every time I watched a movie or show that had Winona Ryder playing a mother who claims to see supernatural beings and no one believes her, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Ortega also does well in the film. Going into the film, I was nervous that Astrid Deetz was going to be either a carbon copy of Lydia Deetz from the original film or Wednesday Adams, who Ortega played in the Netflix series “Wednesday.” Thankfully, this isn’t the case. She definitely treats Astrid as her own character, and not just “Wednesday 2.0.”
However, Michael Keaton steals the show as Beetlejuice once again. At 73, how does he still have the energy to sustain such a wild, unhinged character for a whole movie? I laughed at almost every single scene Keaton was in— he was that good. The film also wisely does not overuse Beetlejuice. In fact, Beetlejuice only had around 15 minutes of screen time in the original, and it doesn’t feel like he has much more in the sequel. This is a testament to Burton’s instincts as a director. While others might feel tempted to give Beetlejuice loads of screen time, that could lead to over saturation since he is such an over the top character. Burton, on the other hand, drops Beetlejuice in sparingly and to great effect.
While the film does have great acting, great direction and great set design, the script did get a bit muddy at times. While I would love to give a straightforward summary of the film, I cannot, so here is my best shot: after the death of Charles Deetz, the Deetz family goes back to their old home that Beetlejuice still haunts. Lydia is now a television medium with a hit supernatural reality TV show, while Astrid does not believe in the supernatural. Lydia also has a boyfriend who just wants her for money. Delia Deetz wants to turn their old home into an art collective and exploit her dead husband for money. Astrid falls for a boy who is a dead homicidal murderer that killed his parents and wants to use Astrid to get back to the land of the living. Lydia enlists the help of Beetlejuice to save Astrid from said boy. Beetlejuice’s ex-wife is a murderer who wants to suck Beetlejuice’s soul. Willem DaFoe plays an investigator going after Beetlejuice. There’s about five plots happening in a less than two hour movie, which makes the film feel a bit all over the place at times.
While it has faults, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” did achieve the most important quality: fun. I’m sure that people will tear the film apart because of its flaws, but I think it’s important to remember that it is okay for a movie to exist just to entertain the audience and not be a masterpiece in screenwriting. And boy, does “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” entertain!
