Title: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Describe This Movie In One Blazing Saddles Quote:
CHARLIE: They said you was hung!
BART: And they was right!
Brief Plot Synopsis: Deranged demon develops devious design, disorganizes deadlands.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 3.5 Pahusacheta Nahasapeemapetilons out of 5.
Tagline: “The ghost with the most is back.”
Better Tagline: “Make my millennium.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Tragedy has befallen the Deetz clan, as patriarch Charles falls victim to a grim Claymation fate. The death of her father spurs Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) to mend fences with daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara). However, both Lydia and Astrid are contending with their beaus, Rory (Justin Theroux) and Jeremy (Arthur Conti), respectively, as well as events forcing Lydia to seek the help of the infamous Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton).
“Critical” Analysis: A sequel to 1988’s Beetlejuice was in the pipeline as far back as 1990. Proposed ideas included having our favorite bio-exorcist falling in love in Paris and/or winning a surfing contest in Hawaii. In retrospect, it’s probably for the best the actual sequel takes place in familiar haunts: namely the Deetzes’ placid hometown of Winter River and the Kafka-esque afterlife now (at least partly) supervised by Mr. “Geuse” himself.
Anyone wondering if Ryder, Keaton, et al. still had it in them to deliver the goods can breathe a little easier. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a worthy successor to its freaky forerunner. Director Tim Burton gamely reaches back into his ’80s bag of tricks, using the cast’s onscreen chemistry and practical effects to largely recapture the look and spirit of the original.
But don’t think this is a mere rehash of the first movie. Burton has looked down the road to consider what happens to the cool goth chick when she grows up and has kids of her own, and how adulthood makes fools of us all, even those of us without a supernatural stalker.
He also manages to solve the problem of Charles Deetz’s return without including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Jones. Sort of. Would it have been easier to simply kill his character off without including him in the ensuing shenanigans? Yes, actually. The guy no longer has a career for a reason, and whatever “closure” that’s accomplished hardly feels worth it.
Fortunately, O’Hara kills it, like you knew she would. Delia was the low-key star of the first movie, and Burton wisely gives her both more screen time and a satisfying character arc.
Also? Props to Lydia for sticking with her teenage look. I’d consider it myself, but I don’t think Jams and Bill the Cat T-shirts are quite as eternal. And yet the key question for her character, as Delia puts it, is if she can regain the “obnoxious little goth girl” she once was?
Fans of Richard Marx and “MacArthur Park” will likewise be rewarded. Indeed, the dream sequence incorporating the latter was one of the moments of pure joy I experienced watching this, even if that song remains a war crime.
Unlike so many sequels/reboots we’ve choked down of late (*cough*Ghostbusters*cough*), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice delivers clever callbacks without wallowing in fan service. The plot isn’t a mere rehash of the original, and introduces new characters — an inspired Willem Dafoe as a dead actor semi-famous for his McGarnagle-style movie roles — and Theroux as Lydia’s unctuous current beau.
In the end, Death remains the Great Equalizer. We lose some beloved (and not so beloved) characters, as Lydia’s isolation is replaced by something approaching satisfaction. It’s about the best GenX can hope for.
Ask A 15-Year Old:
RFTED: I liked that a lot. What did you think?
15YO: It was okay. I think I know why you liked it.
RFTED: Why?
15YO: Winona Ryder.
RFTED: Correction: Winona Ryder *and* Monica Bellucci.
15YO: Ew.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in theaters today.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
