Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

snynopsis

Lydia Deetz heads back to Winter River with her family after a death of a loved one. Shenanigans ensue when the Geuse is let loose.

runtime

1h 44m

Director

Tim Burton

Cast

Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O'Hara, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux

Parents' Guide

Silly gore / cursing

bonus scenes

None

Plot Details

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Lydia Deetz (Ryder) hosts Ghost House, a talk show produced by her boyfriend, Rory (Theroux). During filming, she thinks she sees Betelgeuse, who haunted her family decades ago. Soon after, Lydia’s stepmother Delia (O'Hara) tells her that her father Charles was killed by a shark after surviving a plane crash. A random person dies and sets off a chain of events in the afterlife that releases an evil spirit, Delores. Delores is the x-wife of Betelgeuse and is looking for vengeance. The Deetz family heads to Winter River for the funeral and picks up Lydia’s estranged daughter Astrid (Ortega) from boarding school. Rory proposes to Lydia at the funeral reception. Astrid is annoyed and leaves the scene, meeting Jeremy, who reveals he's a ghost needing help to restore his life. In exchange for helping him, Jeremy says he can reunite Astrid with her dead father. They enter the afterlife, where Lydia, discovering Jeremy's murderous past, calls on Betelgeuse (Keaton) for help. Betelgeuse agrees to assist but demands Lydia marry him so he can stay in the mortal world.

Lydia agrees, and they attempt to stop Astrid from boarding the "Soul Train." Astrid, tricked into switching places with Jeremy, is saved by her father Richard, who works at the train station in the afterlife. Meanwhile, Betelgeuse sends Jeremy to Hell and enlists Delia’s help to return to the mortal world after she was sent to the afterlife by a snake bite.

At the wedding, Betelgeuse and Delia hijack the ceremony, exposing Rory’s greed and intentions. Lydia punches Rory, and Betelgeuse is about to marry Lydia when Delores confronts him. A sandworm bursts through the floor and then eats Delores and Rory. Astrid then reveals Betelgeuse broke the handbook's rules, nullifying the wedding. Lydia returns Betelgeuse to the afterlife by saying his name three times. Delia, after reuniting with her headless husband Charles, also boards the Soul Train.

Lydia films her last episode of Ghost House so she can spend more time with Astrid. She continues to have nightmares about Betelgeuse, including a dream about Astrid’s future. Waking up, Lydia feels traumatized and alone.

3.00 / 4.00

65/100

Re-watchability

80/100

Humor

70/100

Action

85/100

Drama

85/100

Acting

73/100

Snap Judgement

* average of other categories

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a fun movie but also was a hot mess. There are too many subplots going on at once.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a chaotic mess that did not live up to the original. Before going to see this movie, I was excited and ready for a fun sequel. However, after seeing it I was disappointed. I was hoping to get more insight into Beetlejuice's character, but instead they threw together a bunch of famous actors and unimportant storylines.

They did touch a bit on Beetlejuice’s past. They talked about how he married a woman back in the day who he didn’t truly know. She was a soul sucker, and later killed him on their wedding night. She is now searching for him and the only way out of it is to marry someone from the living world. This is where Lydia comes into play. If they just stuck with this storyline as their main focus, I believe this movie would have been way more entertaining and organized. There were just so many storylines and characters that they were trying to focus on at once that Beetlejuice himself seemed like an afterthought.

I thought that the actors themselves did a fantastic job playing their characters. Micheal Keaton especially gave a fantastic performance of Beetlejuice. Like I said earlier, there were too many characters. They should have kept the main focus Beetlejuice, Lydia, the ex-wife, and astrid.

In conclusion Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was subpar to say the least. The movie was a mess that had lazy storytelling. The actors did all of the work and without them the movie would have completely failed.

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2.85 / 4.00

50/100

Re-watchability

75/100

Humor

75/100

Action

60/100

Drama

72/100

Acting

76/100

Snap Judgement

* average of other categories

I didn't expect Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to be a top film of the year, but I really wanted more out of it. Aside from some nostalgia, it's got a fairly pedestrian feel.

In 1988, the demon Betelgeuse was released on the world in the movie Beetlejuice. As a 10-year-old I loved this movie. By 1988 standards it was corny – as a Tim Burton flick, it was meant to be campy. A year or so later the Beetlejuice animated series ran on TV for several seasons. I watched the show every Saturday curled up with a Totino’s Party Pizza. Episodes with names like “Bully the Crud” (a play on Billy the Kid) were perfect fodder for preteen / teen boys. There were several attempts to make a sequel in the 1990s, but not all the parties could come to agreement. Thirty-six years later the Guese is let loose again, wreaking havoc on the Deetz family in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is dripping with nostalgia. Director Tim Burton paid great attention carrying details from the first film into the second, from cheesy special effects all the way down to its core actors. That said, the movie would not work without Keaton and Ryder. Keaton still delivers in the Betelgeuse role. The downside is that there’s not enough Betelgeuse. The same is true with the original film. More Keaton would’ve definitely elevated Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I expected to see Lydia a stronger person, but she’s often easily influenced by others and hesitant to assert her position. I can only assume that the character is presented this way because of her years and years of seeing ghosts taking a toll on her. Catherine O’Hara plays at about the same level as her spot in the original film. Burton did a great job of writing Jeffrey Jones out of the film but still honoring the character Charles (Lydia’s father). For those who don’t recognize the name Jeffrey Jones, he’s Mr. Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He also is a convicted sex offender. Also, the Maitlands (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin), are only referenced in the movie (presumably because of Baldwin’s legal troubles following the Rust set shooting). Ortega is a nice addition to the Deetz family. Astrid is a fitting role for her after playing Wednesday Addams. The ancillary characters are serviceable but don’t improve the film, save Danny DeVito’s role.

The humor is well done, but there’s not enough of it. There are some blink-and-miss-it moments, like a dead competitive hotdog eater in the recently deceased waiting room. Expect to see a fair amount of silly gore including squirting blood, severed body parts, and shriveling bodies. The drama is lost in an array of subplots that really causes the movie to lose focus. I could’ve done without the Betelgeuse’s x-wife plot and was certainly sad to see Bob die because of it.

I really want to love this movie, but I don’t. It’s an okay follow-up to a beloved 36-year-old movie, but it could’ve been better served by focusing just a bit more on simplifying the plot structure and adding more comedy. I might watch this again to see if I like it more the second time around. Will we get to say Betelgeuse’s name three times in a film title? Maybe? Would I watch it? Yeah, I’d be there.

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