Beetlejuice Beetlejuice… A Sequel That Shouldn’t Have Been Summoned
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn’t live up to the hype. The sequel finds three generations of the Deetz family returning home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, their lives are turned upside down when Lydia’s rebellious teen daughter discovers a mysterious portal to the afterlife.
Known for his distinct macabre and gothic aesthetic, Tim Burton made his directorial debut in 1985 with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and gained immense acclaimed for his follow up film with 1988’s Beetlejuice. The way the original Beetlejuice has permeated into pop culture made this an exciting world to return to. It’s clear there’s an appetite for it as seen by the animated series, video games, Halloween costumes, and even the Broadway musical. That’s what makes it even more disappointing to get this overstuffed and messy sequel 36 years later.
Winona Ryder reprises her iconic role of Lydia Deetz, going from a sullen goth teen to a lost middle-aged psychic host of the popular TV show Ghost House. While she has a better relationship with her stepmother Delia, played by Catherine O’Hara, her focus on all things ghostly has led to a strained relationship with her own daughter Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega. Despite a star-studded cast, the characters lack solid development and feel like they’re just going through the motions. Lydia is a shell of her former self, while Astrid is doing a lifeless Wednesday impression.
Monica Bellucci makes a thrilling entrance as a big villain in Beetlejuice’s ex wife Delores, who is then promptly sidelined and forgotten about until the end of the movie. Willem Dafoe plays an undead actor stuck playing his cop role in the afterlife in a joke that gets more stale the more they harp on it.
Meanwhile Beetlejuice, played by Michael Keaton, who became an icon with only 17 minutes of screen time in the original film, manages to make less of an impact with his time in this one. I feel like they introduced him too soon with his ex wife storyline in a way that felt muddled and all over the place.
Astrid’s storyline had the potential to be the strongest, with her tense relationship with her mother, her grief over her late father, a local love interest, and an important revelation about herself. There was a spark of something there that could’ve jump started a solid sequel, but instead it’s not given enough time and is watered down by too many side plots. They could have honed in on that storyline and brought in Beetlejuice when Lydia was desperate for help to give the zebra striped demon a more showstopping entrance.
Even Tim Burton’s signature dark and zany style doesn’t help the lack of coherent story, scripted by Wednesday writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. This tracks as Wednesday wasn’t great either. It was Jenna Ortega’s performance and star quality that rose above the script and storyline of that show and made it a hit, which clearly doesn’t work here.
What we get instead is an underbaked and unfocused Beetlejuice sequel that doesn’t live up to the original in any way. The stakes are low and the emotional moments don’t land. If you’re looking for a scary good time this Halloween, just re-watch the OG.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters on September 6.
