A whole lot of campy fun!
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This almost feels weird to say but it’s actually quite refreshing to watch a film that isn’t bothered to be too woke or politically correct just to keep with the times.
An aptly titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice joins the Legacy Sequel Club with a raucous and riveting follow up to Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic Beetlejuice. Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara reprise their roles alongside a new cast consisting of Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe.
Set 36 years after the events of Beetlejuice, Delia and Lydia Deetz (O’Hara and Ryder) return home to Winter River after Charles Deetz's unexpected death. Lydia's life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Ortega), is tricked into trading her life with a ghost boy she just met (Arthur Conti, who could be easily confused for a younger Matthew Gray Gubler). Lydia is forced to enlist Betelgeuse’s help to retrieve Astrid from the afterlife, all while dealing with matters of his own having learnt of the resurrection of his ex-wife a.k.a Dolores the soul sucking witch (Bellucci). Oh and there’s also Dafoe's former action star-cum-ghost detective, hot on the heels of said ex-wife’s quest for Betelgeuse’s soul.
Being seated for this film felt like taking a time machine back to the 80s and a very specific Burtonesque world. Burton & Co. absolutely nailed bringing Winter River back to life as if not decades have passed, and if it weren’t for the mobile phones – and the tongue-in-cheek scene where a group of influencers are literally sucked into their phones – it would’ve been hard to pinpoint the year it was set in. Not forgetting Colleen Atwood’s expertise in costume design that compliments the zany set design. Oh how we’ve missed the macabre quirkiness of this auteur’s work!
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice plays like a walk through optical illusion rooms, an energy matching that of its titular character’s. It’s convoluted in a sense that every character has their own agenda that may or may not overlap with each other’s and the film trying to keep from going beyond a 2-hour mark makes for many a rushed ending to each subplot. Too much time was spent on build up only for things to fizzle away with little significance and for the ending to mimic its predecessor's. We wouldn’t have minded a more centred and straightforward plot on Betelgeuse’s vengeful ex-wife, or even dive deeper into Jeremy the serial killer ghost but alas, we were fed pure chaos instead.
At times it felt like Joyce Byers (Stranger Things), Moira Rose (Schitt’s Creek) and Wednesday Addams (Wednesday) were pulled out of their realities and found themselves in Betelgeuse’s world. The character resemblances are so uncanny it almost feels deliberate and very hard to unsee. I’d hate to see being-a-glum-monotonous-girl-who-dances-weird is all Ortega is good for but if her next role calls for that, she is typecast for life. Maybe O’Hara shouldn’t be prosecuted here, considering Delia did come before Moira and it’s not the actress's fault both characters share similar characteristics but what’s the excuse for Ryder’s frantic and forced take on adult Lydia that looks like Joyce in cosplay? What ever happened to the sullen goth girl?
Thankfully, not a single thing has changed about the titular Betelgeuse. Keaton looks to be having delicious fun as the unapologetic bio-exorcist and the rest of the cast were an absolute treat to behold. From Dafoe trying to find balance between being an actor and a detective to Theroux making an asshat of himself, it’s a shame Bellucci was underused seeing her presence feels like she was made for Burton’s world.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a whole lot of campy fun if you remember to take off your serious hat and just enjoy the wacky display before you. Burton has been a personal favourite for many years so its nice to see the auteur back at his roots and forget the 2019 film that tainted his legacy.
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