Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice Gives Ghoulish Grins

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice brings back the mirthful side of the macabre. Fortunately, the film isn’t just for fans of the first. Granted, they’re the audience most likely to appreciate this sequel. However, newcomers will easily find themselves entertained by the outlandish antics herein. Director Tim Burton manages to conjure the quirky cartoonish nature of Beetlejuice (1988), while a stellar cast helps move this movie along. It takes a second to get chugging, but once the train is rolling, there’s no stopping the fun.

The Deetz family are living life estranged. Widower Lydia has become famous as a television medium who explores haunted houses, much to the chagrin of her science minded daughter Astrid. Meanwhile, Beetlejuice has weaseled his way into a management position in the bureaucratic purgatory of the afterlife. The death of Lydia’s father coupled with the accidental resurrection of the infamous bio-exorcist’s ex-wife brings them all together. Skeptical Astrid is forced to realize the supernatural is real, while Beetlejuice races to avoid a fate worse than death.

The overall story is a bit clunky. It takes several scenes to build momentum as various characters establish their personalities and purpose. This is often done through exposition. That said, one instance is a flashback courtesy of the ghost with the most playing out a fabulous foreign language film — parody par excellence. It’s a shame more moments like that couldn’t be similarly constructed. Yet even these occasional info dumps are concise enough to never interfere with the narrative flow. They just seem like lost opportunities for better banter.

Still, that isn’t to say there isn’t plenty of comedic dialogue. The script by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar is amusing and efficient. Juggling multiple plot lines, they tend to write straight to the point. It doesn’t leave much time for character exploration. Yet, what trips up Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice a bit more is that multitude.

The movie is a little stuffed, and although everything comes together the flow doesn’t always feel organic. There are occasions where the story shifts to some other plotline that comes across apart from everything else. For much of the first act there’s the Deetz family thread and running somewhat parallel is Beetlejuice’s. The two intertwine but not as smoothly as it could have. This makes the movie something of a tangle as it eventually weaves various narratives into one story.

The first film may not have been terribly complex, however, every event flowed from previous scenes. The beginning of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice is peppered with moments breaking away from one another to establish stories which do come together. Unfortunately, some of the extra stuff, though they seemingly give stakes to events, don’t add much to what happens.

Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded) is sadly the biggest victim of this needlessly swollen plot. Her character ultimately becomes another in a long line of women satisfying the Tim Burton need to put a buxom beauty in a bustier. Granted, the role adds one glorious comedic instance to the film, but the movie could have and does carry on largely without her.

Director Tim Burton recaptures the visual sense of the first film. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice leans more towards the comical than the sinister. As such, the look is a tad more colorful than the ’88 feature. The only thing lacking are more of those Burton-esque qualities. The afterlife is reminiscent of his stylistic tendencies, but the real-world lacks that slightly askew element featured so prominently in previous pictures like Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Another among its few flaws may be modern movie making techniques. The fabulously unsettling uncanny valley that old school effects produced vanishes in the slick presentation CGI provides. Consequently, some moments that could have been amusingly macabre lose the quirky cartoonish quality that gave the first film some of its charm. Still, these rarely stop the momentum of the overall picture. And Burton does make the wise decision to throw in practical effects whenever possible.

One thing helping Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice is the stellar cast. Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) does a superb job as the skeptical estranged Astrid who finds herself in over her head. Winona Ryder (Stranger Things) isn’t given enough screen time to flesh out the depths of an older Lydia, yet she does convey someone lost and broken by her haunted existence. Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) recaptures Delia Deetz while giving her new heights of comedic pretention. Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive) plays a new age enabler and tv producer trying to slime his way into Lydia’s life, and his performance is comically cringeworthy.

Arthur Conti (House of the Dragon) plays Jeremy, a young local whom Astrid falls for. He provides a boy-next-door charm that anyone would find appealing. Among the dead, Willem Dafoe (Poor Things) is Wolf Jackson, a police detective in the afterlife who humorously can’t escape his acting past. Finally, Michael Keaton (Batman) makes the ghost with the most the kind of huckster people are tempted to emulate. His comic timing can’t be denied, and he reminds that this is a part only he can play.

Returning to old territory, especially in sequels, can feel like recycling. Instead of coming across fresh, gags remind of the past rather than stand out. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice may not entirely sidestep that pitfall, but it does elevate the moments it chooses to replicate. Easter eggs and callbacks often add background details or seize a scene becoming memorable in their own right. At risk of spoilers, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice may do for the song “MacArthur Park” what Beetlejuice did for “Day-o”.

Inevitable comparisons to the first film are likely to peck at anyone appreciating this pic. Cynical complaints about nostalgia bait cash grabs are already echoing over the horizon. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice doesn’t surpass the first film, yet it’s hardly anywhere near a failure. This is an amusing film from start to finish. Many jokes are laugh out loud, and some lines are likely to be quoted for a long time. A solid sequel especially for any fans craving more Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice…