AlexBAT’s review published on Letterboxd:
As a huge fan of the original "Beetlejuice," I was cautiously optimistic for this sequel. There's a chance that so much time away could lead to some higher heights with a smart modern take on a beloved classic... or it could just completely miss the mark by getting the wrong idea on what made the OG work and making an unoriginal copy.
Look at my 2.5 rating and guess what direction this took.
There's a lot to like about this. Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, and Jenna Ortega as three generations of Deetz women with their own goals, misunderstandings, and trauma were the film highlights. When the story revolved around this core, the movie sang. But there was so much other stuff thrown in willy-nilly that made this a huge missed opportunity and an overstuffed, convoluted mess.
The various degrees of antagonists played by Michael Keaton, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Arthur Conti, and Monica Bellucci all had great concepts... but they weren't given enough time and room to really shine or be utilized in meaningful ways. Keaton as the titular Beetlejuice is obviously necessary... but one or two of the others could've been cut completely and saved for a potential trilogy end.
The musical numbers were painful to get through. I saw what they were trying to do, but it wasn't landing for me on any level. "Day-O" and "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" were lightning in a bottle for the first film and trying to recapture that magic here was peak level cringe.
By the end, we topped things off with a sweet ending that was crapped on with unnecessary and over the top silliness only to lead to multiple 'dream inside a dream' fake outs. WHY? It wasn't needed... it wasn't asked for... and it wasn't even wanted. Just more overindulgence and throwing things rapid fire in hopes that something sticks.
There were a lot of great things in this film... mostly the acting and visuals (but even those were too "normal" or "safe" and seemed to miss a lot of the quirky yet dangerous "edge" the original had). But this movie is another example of 'too much of a good thing is bad.'
AlexBAT liked these reviews
All
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_216750b5-f50f-405c-922f-57aa13c89abb" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-216750b5-f50f-405c-922f-57aa13c89abb'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-216750b5-f50f-405c-922f-57aa13c89abb'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-216750b5-f50f-405c-922f-57aa13c89abb'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_fa3cd66d-5601-482f-84dc-7a0c589262cc" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-fa3cd66d-5601-482f-84dc-7a0c589262cc'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-fa3cd66d-5601-482f-84dc-7a0c589262cc'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-fa3cd66d-5601-482f-84dc-7a0c589262cc'));
