'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' Review: Tim Burton Tries Hard to Raise the Dead
The ghost with the most returns for a sweet, if overstuffed, return to form
It’s remarkable how well the first Beetlejuice holds up today. Tim Burton’s blend of the macabre and the humorous, crafting a version of the afterlife that is spooky yet relatable still has the ability to come off as cozy and inviting. This in spite of the Burton aesthetic now being fully integrated into society. And there’s been a desire to bring back the Ghost with the Most since the 1988 debut of the first film (the infamous Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian will never die). And as the current nostalgia boom rages on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice makes an argument for its existence with a strong story about trauma and death, that actually attempts to deal with the fallout from the original film.
Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is still struggling to cope with what happened back in 1988. Now the successful host of a ghost haunting TV series called Ghost House, Lydia hopes to help others deal with their trauma while pushing down her own. Her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) is dealing with similar issues after the death of her father and estrangement form her mother. Everything changes though when the pair are forced to reunite after the death of Lydia’s father Charles.
It’s amazing what that nostalgic rush can do. Hearing that Danny Elfman score (and, yes, Burton is still working with him) over the opening credits still hits. And there are several direct, not-so-subtle callbacks to the first film, from a children’s choir singing “Day-O” to Lydia, for reasons that don’t feel organic to her personality, still wearing the same dress she did as a teenager.
The Deetzes and their kooky send-up of art snobs set against the bucolic world of Winter River, Connecticut still has the power to captivate, particularly as the daffy Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is still trying to champion bizarre art. But it’s Lydia who has grown and evolved as both a person and a character. She continues to see dead people; as for the Maitlands, a stray line of dialogue explains them away. But, more importantly, her desire to forget what happened in the first film causes her to retreat into helping others face their problems. Instead, she’s propped up by her enabler/boyfriend/manager Rory (Justin Theroux at his smarmiest).
Ryder’s cool goth girl presence in the original is replaced with a fidgety, discombobulated energy sparked her belief that Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) is out to finish what he started, ie marry her in spite of their 600-year age difference. The death of Charles Deetz looms large over everything — and while Jeffrey Jones isn’t physically present the character is everywhere so take that how you will — and forces the main characters to go back to the beginning. The stop-motion effects to detail his death are funny and serve as a colorful change of pace to a movie steeped in dark purples and greens.
Once back in Winter River the script dovetails between Lydia's attempt to deal with Beetlejuice coming back while simultaneously being compelled into another major, as well as Astrid making friends with a young boy named Jeremy (Arthur Conti). These are the strongest plot threads in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. There’s always something to mine in a story about a mother and daughter at odds, but here there’s a relatable element to Astrid’s dislike of her mother that goes beyond the petulance of a teenager. How does a child deal with a parent who can’t cope with their own unsolved trauma? Ortega’s tough exterior is something we know the actress can do, but in the quieter moments with Ryder there’s a real soulfulness to her performance.
It’s just a shame that the script, credited to the Wednesday writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, doesn’t make this the main narrative. Instead, the film is bifurcated between Lydia and Astrid’s estrangement and Beetlejuice being hunted down by his (literal) soul-sucking ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci) and a former actor turned dead PI, Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe); Astrid and Jeremy serve as a heavy-handed link between the two.
Nothing about these two plot threads, individually, cause problems. It’s just that Lydia and Astrid’s relationship feels more compelling, developed and interesting. Because the film jumps so quickly between everything Keaton’s schtick can grow tiresome; he was only in the first film for 17 minutes, after all. That being said, Keaton can still wear Beetlejuice like a second skin and the addition of a shrunken head subordinate named Bob allows him someone to bounce off of. For the record, Bob is the MVP of this movie thanks to the effects work on the shrunken heads. I want to see Bob’s little face on everything! Bellucci and Dafoe are fun to see in their afterlife makeup, but neither has any real chance to make an impact. Their plots are fairly one note and Bellucci is absent for large swaths of the movie.
But because there are so many things that are required to be here: namely a reason for Beetlejuice himself to exist that significant narrative moments aren’t allowed to lay and play out. This hurts the most in the third act, when Lydia and Astrid have a breakthrough in their relationship only for them to have to immediately wrap the story up. That extra 2-3 minutes letting things naturally conclude would have been an immense benefit and could have just been taken from the afterlife story.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will serve as an interesting experiment in terms of whether Gen Z will give it a chance, especially considering how Gen X it feels. The needle drops are nearly all ‘70s, with an extended dance sequence to “MacArthur Park” of all things.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice scratches the same itch as Twisters did earlier this summer. Those that love the original will find individual pieces to latch onto even if the whole thing doesn’t coalesce well. Ryder and Ortega are the ones to watch, creating a new entry point for the Deetzes. The rest, though, fails to set itself apart, being there because it’s expected. While it’s doubtful it’ll find room on the shelf next to its predecessor, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a lot of fun in the moment. And justice for Bob!
GRADE: C+
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters September 6th.