Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Tim Burton, written by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith and starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Santiago Cabrera, Burn Gorman, Danny DeVito, Sami Slimane, Amy Nuttall, Mark Heenehan, Liv Spencer and Skylar Park.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is Warner Bros’ gift to Tim Burton. It’s obvious the studio offered the director free reign to do whatever the heck he wanted here and it shows on-screen. The film brings Michael Keaton back as Beetlejuice but it’s gory, over-the-top and a genuinely wild mess. Fans of the original 1988 picture will adore the return of Keaton in this role and the fact that Winona Ryder has returned to reprise her role as Lydia Deetz. Together, this pair makes some magic together although the movie meanders with enough wicked imagination to suggest the writers had a field day bringing this material to the screen with no clear plot in mind. Things happen but it seems like the movie is making everything up as it goes along. Burton has crafted a movie that pays homage to his past work but has a mean side to it that undermines some of the more innocuous qualities that were found in the original picture.
This movie pays respect to Jeffrey Jones’ character from the first Beetlejuice by showing his image on the character’s tombstone but since he was eaten by a shark, someone thought it would be a good idea to show the half-eaten bottom portion of his body. This image is gruesome and not really necessary but Jones had his own personal run in with the law so it’s probably better than trying to bring him back into the franchise. His character’s wife, Delia Deetz is, of course, played with distinct humor and tremendous screen presence by the always reliable Catherine O’Hara.
This film opens with Beetlejuice’s ex-lover, Delores (Monica Bellucci) stitching her body together a la Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of Burton’s most beloved films. She wants to get to see her old hubby, Beetlejuice, and get revenge for what he did to her. To reveal more would spoil the fun. Danny DeVito also appears at the beginning in a wild role. He looks rather creepy here, I might add, in a pretty meaningless role.
The real addition to the cast that is noteworthy is that of Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter, Astrid. Move over, Wednesday Addams because Astrid is just as interesting and a lot less weird in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Jenna Ortega is relatable and likable as her character, Astrid, tries to build a relationship with a local boy named Jeremy (Arthur Conti) after she crashes her bike into the fence outside his home. The screenwriters take the most obvious route with this romance that is created between Astrid and Jeremy and who can blame them? We need an antagonist after all. Justin Theroux serves as Lydia’s lover who seems to have peculiar motives being that he doesn’t appear to have a lot in common with Lydia though he supports her in a show that she does that revolves around the dead.
Willem Dafoe is hysterical as an actor in the afterlife who serves as a police officer as well. He’s played a cop on television so he just continues to act the part in death. Dafoe is his off-beat self and audiences will get a kick out of watching him spoof his own eccentric image. The guys in the afterlife with the shrunken heads steal the show, though, as they end up escaping into the world of the living from the land of the dead with hysterical results. The movie also shows us a humorous “soul train” that those whose souls are headed into a new realm in the afterlife must ride.
Michael Keaton is good. He doesn’t have the screen time I would have liked him to have, though. Much of the film’s attention shifts to some of the other characters in the picture but Keaton hams it up in an ending set in a church which offers some hilarity beside the gory and gruesome effects that the afterlife scenes display. Ryder has a lot of appeal that has carried over from the first movie but Ortega outshines her and then some with the movie’s best part. Astrid is played by Ortega like the movie star she is and audiences will enjoy rooting for her.
Ugly scenes saturate this movie. It’s not for kids although children will want to see it. Too many graphic depictions of death are shown and although they are exaggerated, they’re not always funny. A guy who died during a hot dog eating contest and a burnt Santa Claus are among the dead people found in the afterlife.
Burton was given total artistic control here. At least it seems like he was. Maybe there were more gruesome scenes that didn’t make the final cut although it appears that nothing could be in more bad taste than the explanations of the deaths of the weirdos in the alternate death world the movie presents.
While Ortega is solid and Keaton will not disappoint his fans, the movie doesn’t really work as a stand-alone picture. It’s too messy and it’s all over the place with references to the first film that not everyone will get. That being said, there are a number of funny sequences that will have audiences laughing throughout and a few close calls as Beetlejuice must help Astrid who has unwillingly signed a contract to die in order to release another soul from the afterlife. Will Lydia help her too? Do pigs fly? Also, O’Hara is very enjoyable to watch too and her scenes are also entertaining. Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe also have their creative and off-beat wild moments here in addition.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is still nothing short of a wicked, wild ride that fans of the original will probably eat up. All others, board this film at your own risk. It would help if you like Ortega and forget that Ryder was once a kleptomaniac for some odd reason many years after the original 1988 picture. Burton still has what it takes to take weird to new levels if his work on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is any indication. There’s also some brief zany dancing here towards the end for those who remember the dining table “Day-O” scene from the first film. The new film wouldn’t be complete without such a sequence. I guess I liked it despite all its gruesome images and craziness. There probably won’t be a third so enjoy this last hurrah while you can.
Rating: 7/10
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