Tim Burton's 1988 comedy horror film Beetlejuice is near universally recognised as a classic, coming out during the director's most iconic period. Truth be told, I don't actually rate it that highly. It is an ok film with some good scenes but had a lot of pacing issues. My sister has been raving about the sequel - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, ever since she saw it at the cinema some weeks back. Getting sick of her constantly asking if I've seen it yet I headed off with my bestie to check it out.
Taking place in present day things have changed a lot for the Deetz family. Former goth teenager Lydia (Winona Ryder - Black Swan, Alien Resurrection) now has her own paranormal investigation show. She also has a teenage daughter - Astrid (Jenna Ortega - Scream VI, Wednesday TV show), who sees her mothers claims of being able to see the dead as pure lies. After Lydia's father is killed in a tragic and amusing accident the family come together to mourn his passing. Lydia and her mother, Delia (Catherine O'Hara - Elemental voice work, Home Alone) pulling Astrid out of boarding school and returning to Delia's house (the same one from the original movie) for the funeral. It is here that it is discovered Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton - Spider-Man: Homecoming, Batman Returns) is still operating and still hopes to one day be reunited with Lydia (who he had previously tried to marry as a means to be able to return permanently to the land of the living). This is something Lydia intends to prevent at all costs.
Meanwhile in the underworld, Beetlejuice learns from detective Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe - Spider-Man: No Way Home, John Wick) that his cultist wife from when he was living - Delores (Monica Bellucci - The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded), has escaped her afterlife confinement and is now hunting for the ghost with the most. With her having the power to consume the souls of the dead this becomes a problem for the denizens of the dead realm.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is exactly how I figured it would be. Thankfully it is in a better place for me than the original. As I said, that first film was ok with moments of goodness. This sequel is instead good with moments of greatness. The whole comedy horror is in full force and looks better than ever due to the modern day effects. The dead especially look great, such as Delores' initial reforming scene where she staples back together her chopped up body. Special effects throughout were impressive and includes returning stop motion effects. There were some twisted moments here that were gross as well as fun, such as Lydia having a baby version of Beetlejuice burst out of her stomach (the baby looking much like the one from Peter Jackson's cult comedy zombie film Braindead). There was also a well done scene where a room full of people have their faces contort into grotesque shapes before they are sucked into their mobile phone screens. The most memorable parts of the first movie reappear, namely people forced against their will by Beetlejuice to mimic singing old songs. This included a late scene set in a church which was near perfection. There was also a neat call back to the iconic dining room dance scene from the first movie, with a choir singing the same song from that part at Lydia's fathers funeral.
I didn't mind a lot of the characters. Due to real life controversies surrounding the actor who played the father, this character is dealt with in an ingenious way. An entertaining fully stop motion sequence is used for the flashback showing how he died, and due to being eaten by a shark, when he does appear in the film it is as a walking torso, they got around not being able to use the original actor cleverly. I enjoyed the character of Lydia and I though Delia had improved a lot, being quirky rather than a nasty person. I had expected Astrid to be the stand-in for the teenage Lydia, fully expecting her to be all gothed up like Ortega was in Wednesday, so I was surprised to see her as a much more normal girl. I had heard complaints that Beetlejuice wasn't in the movie much, but he felt to me that he wasn't that prolific first time around either. I though having duel antagonists was interesting, especially as the two never actually meet with each other. Unfortunately they didn't really have much screen time to shine, Delores in particular felt almost pointless. I also didn't like how swiftly both of these villains were dealt with once they had served their purposes. Outside of that, the story felt like it flowed more smoothly even if it wasn't the most amazing story going on.
I thought Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a good movie. I enjoyed the ties to the original and loved the special effects. For the church scene alone I am going to be picking this up on Blu-ray when it releases, the highs really were very high indeed.
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