If there’s one thing my friends know about me, it’s that I love all things Beetlejuice. I’ve seen the original movie countless times, I’ve binge-watched the cartoon from the 1990s, and I’ve seen the musical adaptation twice -- once on Broadway, the other on the national tour.
When Warner Brothers announced the 2024 release date for the long-awaited sequel to the movie I hold so dear to my heart, I was ecstatic, but also fearful. After all, it had been more than 30 years since the original film’s release, and there was a chance the sequel wouldn’t hold up.
Thankfully, Tim Burton did not disappoint. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” in my honest opinion, is a mixture of modern and classic Burton, the latter being one we haven’t seen in a while.
Of course, you can’t have Beetlejuice without Michael Keaton, who plays the titular character. I was worried going in that Betelgeuse’s character – that's the character’s actual name, by the way – would have to be toned down, but to my delight, Keaton was in his Beetle-juicy glory.
Winona Rider and Catherine O’Hara also made their returns, playing Lydia Deetz and Delia Deetz, respectively. We also got to see some new faces, including Monica Bellucci and Jenna Ortega of “Wednesday” fame.
One of my main criticisms of the movie is the sheer amount of plotlines scattered throughout the film. While this makes the film very fast-paced, some of these plot points were simply unnecessary. I love Willem Dafoe, but his character’s side-plot was unneeded, and we could’ve dedicated more screentime to Betelgeuse, Lydia and Astrid – Lydia’s daughter played by Ortega.
Also, many characters were written out of the film, such as Charles Deetz and the Maitlands. Charles, played by Jeffery Jones, passes away, though considering Jones was arrested for possession of child pornography, it makes sense.
The Maitlands, portrayed by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, were a ghost couple who died in the first film, but they were also missing because their actors had aged. However, in the film, their disappearance is merely reduced to one line. This made me sad because the Maitlands were some of my favorite characters from the original film.
The comedy was fast-paced, wacky and raunchy, the way a Beetlejuice sequel should be. I’m extremely pleased with the film’s exploration of the Netherworld, something we didn’t fully see in the first film. The soundtrack was also perfectly fitting for the film.
Overall, I think I prefer the first “Beetlejuice” to its sequel, but that doesn’t mean the sequel isn’t successful. It’s a fun Tim Burton film right in time for Halloween and it doesn’t need to be any more than that.
I’m interested to see if Burton will make a third movie, especially considering the title of the sequel is very clearly setting up for a future "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” But who knows? Until then, I’m just glad that the film I’ve loved for so long is finally getting the sequel I always hoped for.
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