It’s Showtime For Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Hannah Hughes - Rotted Pumpkin Editor-In-Chief
Michael Keaton and Burn Gorman in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Credit: IMDB
It has been over 35 years since the “Juice was loose,” and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice hit theaters. The movie has since found a comfortable home in the horror genre and has become required watching for many during the Halloween season. It’s absurd, funny, and downright weird, but within the “strange and unusual,” audiences have found the joy of a well-made horror comedy that doesn’t take itself so seriously.
Beetlejuice is a deliciously bizarre product of its time, a film with an energy that is seemingly impossible to bottle a second time. Right?
Wrong. It seems in an age of endless sequels, Beetlejuice has joined the list, with a sequel cheekily named Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, referencing the need to say the demon’s name three times to summon him. With a promising trailer, a handful of original cast and crew returning, and the addition of scream queen Jenna Ortega, my hopes were high for another installment. But if you ask if my expectations were met, that’s a bit hard to say.
Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, and Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Credit: IMDB
The film manages to recapture the aesthetic of the first film, which is no easy feat for something so unique, especially more than three decades after the original. Although the CGI left something to be desired at times, the practical effects and overall visuals that envelop Beetlejuice Beetlejuice are whimsical and consistent. The zany afterlife, with its colorful characters and their darkly humorous demises, is entertaining in its own right and happens to be my favorite part of the film. The sequel expands Burton’s undead universe and “fleshes” it out even more (pun intended), which is a real treat.
The aforementioned Jenna Ortega fits into the cast of zany characters, using the somewhat shallow material she is given to play her part as well as it can be played. With similarities to a young Lydia, but still very much her own, Astrid proves to be a very integral aspect of the film, and despite its jumpiness, manages to keep it grounded when it matters most.
Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Credit: IMDB
Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson is another excellent addition to the film, and although it’s out of place at times, his comedic acting and his character as a whole just seem to fit. It isn’t a role I’d expect him, nor one that I think would delight me as much as it does, but it truly adds to the world-building of the afterlife in a way that is both wildly absurd and darkly funny, which fits Burton to a tee.
Something has to be said about Michael Keaton, who jumps back into the role of the slimy, skeevy, wildly inappropriate Beetlejuice effortlessly. I was worried that the thirty-five years in the afterlife’s call center might water the demon down, but I was pleasantly surprised to see he is still just as vibrant and raunchy as ever. Just like before, Keaton’s performance is really what ties everything together, even if I felt like the effectiveness was limited slightly by just how present he was from beginning to end. Unlike the original, there was barely any build-up to his reveal, but that just means he delivers from start to finish.
Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Credit: IMDB
Where the film fell apart for me was the plot and pacing. Despite the original film’s self-confidence in its simplicity, this seemed to try and overcompensate with several messy plotlines that never truly came to a satisfying conclusion. So much was unnecessary, including the inclusion of Monica Bellucci’s Delores, (who I think should be in a film of her own, sans her demonic ex-husband) and Justin Theroux’s Rory, Lydia’s self-serving manager-turned-lover, who doesn’t add much or anything to the plot, although he tries his best.
Even Winona Ryder is slightly disappointing, as it feels like she has spent far too much time away from Lydia to truly embody her spirit. The character choices made for her in the script and story itself may also be to blame, but I just feel like I was asking myself: “why?” for a majority of the run-time. She feels one-note, which almost pains me to say, knowing how Ryder can act. I get it, time has passed, and she is grown up, but many choices still feel like a stretch to me.
Winona Ryder and Justin Theroux in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Credit: IMDB
So what would I rate Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on my Rotted Pumpkin Meter?
Although the aesthetics of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice impressed me, it lost points for its mediocre dialogue and messy plotlines. It still manages to creep its way into mediocre territory, maybe by the powers of bio-exorcism, but by my account, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is still a decently fun Halloween flick you should check out yourself this upcoming October.
