Dir: Tim Burton
Cast: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monia Bellucci, Willem Dafoe
After a soulless opening, Tim Burton’s long awaited “Beetlejuice” sequel springs back from the dead with a much improved second half, loaded with fittingly ghoulish gags
As a movie fan, there is nothing that conjures up equal dread and excitement than when it is announced that one of your childhood favourites will be returning after years of absence. This is exactly how I felt in 2022 when Warner Bros. announced the long awaited sequel to Tim Burton‘s classic dark comedy “Beetlejuice”. In my youth I had a handful of go-to movies that I would watch on the regular, and be able to recite from scene-to-scene, with Burton’s ghoulish fantasy being one of them.
I think my obsession surrounding “Beetlejuice” as a kid stemmed from the non-stop, frenetic pacing and countless hilariously spooky uses of ground-breaking practical effects that fully realised the afterlife as conceived by creators Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson. “Beetlejuice” launched Burton into the mainstream following the release of his cult classic “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” three years prior, with the success culminating in the filmmaker helming the darkly gothic “Batman” revival in 1989. Over the subsequent 36 years since “Beetlejuice’s” release, Burton has gone onto become one of the most beloved filmmakers in the industry, having become synonymous with the modern day gothic fairytale.
Having grown up loving many of Burton’s work, having a particular fondness for “Edward Scissorhands” (1990), “Ed Wood” (1994), “Big Fish” (2003), “Corpse Bride” (2005) and “Sweeney Todd” (2007), it has pained me to see the quality of the director’s work drop considerably over the past ten to fifteen years. While his dark and gothic aesthetic has remained, and having adapted iconic IPs such as “Alice in Wonderland” (2010) and “Dumbo” (2019), the 66-year-old has failed to recapture the magic and spookiness of his earlier work, with his last critically positive outing being the feature length remake of his 1984 animation “Frankenweenie” back in 2012. Despite Burton clearly being the only suitable choice to return to help revive the “Beetlejuice” franchise after so many years, I still had my reservations as a result of his underwhelming recent track record.
Also returning to the franchise are stars of the original film; Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and of course the charismatic bio-exorcist himself, Michael Keaton. Much like Burton, the three stars have gone onto have successful careers since “Beetlejuice‘s” release in 1988, with Keaton undergoing a career renaissance since the 2010’s following his more dramatic roles in the Academy Award winning features “Birdman” (2014) and “Spotlight” (2015). Despite not quite matching their co-star’s big screen resurgence, both Ryder and O’Hara have enjoyed huge success on television in recent years thanks to their leading roles in acclaimed series “Stranger Things” and “Schitt’s Creek” respectively. Stars joining the returning cast for Burton’s sequel, aptly titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, include Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci (now married to Burton), and Jenna Ortega, who has previous with Burton having starred in his TV series “Wednesday”.
We are reintroduced to Ryder’s emo recluse, Lydia Deetz, as she now hosts a supernatural talk show called Ghost House, utilising her experiences from the first movie’s events to communicate with the dead in the present. Lydia is informed by her step-mother Delia (Catherine O’Hara), that her father has died in a shark attack in the South Pacific. Returning to Winter River for the funeral service, Lydia and Delia are accompanied by Lydia’s producer/boyfriend, Rory ( Justin Theroux) and estranged teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega).
Following the funeral, Lydia accepts, albeit reluctantly, Rory’s proposal for marriage, causing an upset Astrid to flee and meet fellow teenage outcast Jeremy (Arthur Conti). On Halloween, the night of the wedding, Astrid learns that Jeremy is actually a ghost seeking her help to restore his life. Smitten, Astrid follows Jeremy to the afterlife, unbeknown to his plot to switch places with her in the land of the living. Having discovered Jeremy’s true intentions, Lydia reluctantly calls upon Betelegeuse (Michael Keaton) to help save Astrid from her fate aboard the “soul train”. Betelgeuse agrees under the condition that Lydia once again agrees to marry him, allowing him to stay in the mortal realm and evade his murderous ex wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci).
To say I went into my screening of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” rather hesitantly, would be an understatement, but following some favourable early buzz and impressive box office projections, I tried to remain somewhat optimistic. However, any optimism I had soon diminished following utterly drab and lifeless first act, with all my reservations surrounding Burton and long awaited sequels in general coming to fruition before my very eyes. Seeing the likes of Ryder and O’Hara return to the franchise was always going to be a treat, but the characters they have taken on in this sequel are far gone from those that were so memorable over thirty years ago. O’Hara has proven to be a comedic genius throughout her career, however, her earlier scenes as Delia in this follow up have devoid the character of any intelligence and self-awareness which she had in the original. Instead Burton, alongside writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, doubles down on the character’s eccentricity and materialism. While O’Hara gets the bulk of the best lines amongst the living characters, her character comes across as a rehash of her role as Moira Rose in the aforementioned “Schitt’s Creek”, for which she has become so well known in the past decade.
Aside from a clever reverse gag during the familiar-but-different opening credits, visually the film lacks the visceral aesthetic of the original, with cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos opting for a glossier approach to bring the franchise into the present day, which takes away the uncanniness that made the original so fascinatingly ghoulish. While most of the memorable and occasionally gross practical effects and designs from the original are showcased in the land of the dead, there was still an eeriness about the real world in which the ghosts of Adam and Barbara Maitland occupied, allowing us to believe that dead could be amongst us at any given moment. In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, despite its Halloween setting, there is no sense of the supernatural amongst the living until the movie kicks into gear around the halfway mark.
In his one and only scene, an undead Danny DeVito inadvertently reanimates the dismembered corpse of the soul sucking Delores, and from this moment onwards the movie starts to find its rhythm and the jokes begin to finally land. In the first real showcase of the movie’s excellent makeup and visual effects, we are treated to a lengthy scene in which a dismantled Monica Bellucci staples herself together to the tune of “Tragedy” by Bee Gees. From here on out we spend the majority of the runtime in the afterlife, a toy box jam-packed with increasingly zany undead characters, including Betelgeuse’s “shrinker” assistant Bob, and Willem Dafoe’s hilarious ghost detective, Wolf Jackson.
Despite his eponymous role, Keaton famously only appeared as Betelgeuse on screen for 17 minutes in the 1988 original, and similarly with the sequel, the “ghost with the most” also has very limited screentime. However, Keaton delivers yet another memorable turn as the madcap Betelgeuse, with his relentless energy and quippy dialogue more than making up for the times he is absent, if only we didn’t have to wait so long to get him into the story. One of the character’s greatest ever moments comes in the finale when a hilariously choreographed musical number to “MacArthur Park” plays out during the movie’s climactic wedding, serving as the sequel’s answer to the classic “Banana Boat” scene in the first film.
It is great to see that having opened in the States with a whopping $110 million (the second biggest of Burton’s career), that “Beetlejuice” has built up such a favourable reputation over the years. While it may lack the originality and vigour of the original, particularly in the mortal world scenes, the core of what made the first film so great remains, thanks to great production values, whacky set pieces, excellent under-world building and a mesmerizing central turn from Michael Keaton.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is now showing in UK Cinemas
Dan Loves Film 