Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review: Welcome Back, Tim Burton

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels like a return to the old Tim Burton: This long overdue sequel is just as charming, entertaining and sickly crazy as the original.

Published more than 35 years after the original, Beetlejuice 2 is full of nostalgia, but also has an emotional core and holds many surprises for long-time fans of the franchise and newcomers alike. The premise of the film is similar to that of the 1988 film – only some of the roles are reversed as new generations are now introduced. “The living, the dead. Can they coexist?” asks an adult Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder, from Stranger Things) at the beginning of the film, when she speaks to the audience of the popular show she hosts, in which she visits infested houses live on television and has earned her quite a reputation. Her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega, of Wednesday), is not a fan of her mother’s work, especially when the two unexpectedly return home when Lydia’s father Charles Deetz has died.

“He flew out for a week to watch birds fuck 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 an opportunity to “discover the art of grief.” 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, from False positive), Lydia’s producer/boyfriend/”kind of cool dad type” wannabe for Astrid, but she has other ideas there too.

In fact, Charles’ death isn’t the only event that impacts our protagonists’ lives in the sequel. Lydia has visions of Beetlejuice, whose sudden, fleeting appearances may or may not be a figment of her imagination. While Delia goes into artist mode and plans the most hilariously Deetz-esque funeral ever, both Lydia and Astrid make some potentially life-destroying decisions that eventually lead to someone uttering three very familiar words. But The “spirit with the most” has its own crisis to deal withwith a merciless, soul-eating ex-wife (Monica Bellucci’s Delores) who is after him, and the afterlife detective and former actor Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe, from Types of kindness) chases after her. When a series of events threatens to change the life of the Deetz And Beyond forever, a journey to a certain Waiting room is OK.

What happens next is up to you to find out. But if you go into it with no expectations and just enjoy the ride, you will have so much fun with this movie. Most of the characters from the first film return, each bringing the right dose of nostalgia and delivering a mix of memories and new, iconic scenes you won’t forget, from improvised musical numbers to hilariously macabre moments. Willem Dafoe It must have been a lot of fun to play Wolf Jackson, a character who manages to be extremely serious and incredibly silly at the same time and who you just can’t get enough of.

Justin Theroux is perfect for the role of Rory and despite his short screen time, manages to make an impression and deliver some of the best lines in the film. In the sequel, Beetlejuice owns a call center where his employees are the shrunken-head figures from the first film, and bobher unlikely manager, becomes your new favorite hero.

And then there is Michael Keatonwho effortlessly recaptures the essence of his character, aided by a script (Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith) that also gives him heart in its own unique way. Our bio-exorcist is still completely insane, but he’s also resourceful enough to earn our respect, and we also get a bit of a backstory that really makes us sympathise with him and ultimately makes us want him to succeed. Monica Bellucci is fantastic in every single scene she appears in, despite her character serving absolutely no purpose in the story. Additionally, a few jokes don’t work and the ending feels a bit like an afterthought, as the film reaches its resolution very quickly and without any real conflict. But does that even matter when the film is so incredibly entertaining?

From the moment the first notes of Danny Elfman’s incredible score ring out and the famous opening scene with Burton’s aerial acrobatics fills the screen, we are completely captivated by a film that you will want to watch again immediately after the screening. Beetlejuice 2 combines the best of the old Tim Burton with a world building that takes full advantage of today’s technology, making it even more breathtaking and magical. There is a lot of nostalgia in the sequel, but the story is essentially about family – a family that may even include Betelgeuse itself. This time, you may not be so afraid to say his name three times.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 28 August 2024as the opening film of Venezia 81. The film will be released worldwide on 6 September 2024.