Sig.Franco’s review published on Letterboxd:
I start my scattered considerations on this film by citing a great reviewer of this app, namely Marqus Rice, who in his review ( letterboxd.com/blackrice19/film/beetlejuice-beetlejuice/ ) talks about how he doesn't understand the appeal of Beetlejuice to the mass, and I add that I do not understand this especially today, in 2024, when we are witnessing a kind of dusty resurrection of Tim Burton, which catapults us violently into the grotesque style of the late '80s after 36 years from Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is yet another legacy sequel that spends a lot of time repeating and quoting lines and situations from the previous film, and that ties up sub-plots in a disordered and disjointed way, which despite its modest duration, makes the narrative feel much less light than the first film.
There is, however, a strange feeling of nostalgia for a certain type of absurd and vintage staging, typical of Burton, which today is as old-fashioned as it is necessary and boisterous.
The practical effects that beat the cgi and the grotesque that often even leads to the extreme of the macabre have made this otherwise stale, revival decidedly fun and engaging.
Tim Burton is the most progressive director and perfectly suitable for this age, for his evident spasmodic love for the female figure: angelic, demonic, saving and lethal, but still protagonist of our lives. Women are always at the center of Burton’s films, even if, as in this case, they are ancient, powerful and charming spirits who want to deprive men of their souls.
Burton’s vision of the female world is always fascinating, touching and, although this film is certainly not the best work to talk about certain themes, especially today, it's noteworthy how Burton is in fact fully feminist: while the man is shattered, vulgar, depraved and foolish, the woman is charming, ethereal and reflective, just as she has always been in all his filmography.
However, the problem expressed at the beginning of the review remains, regarding the role of this type of film/franchise/style in our contemporaneity, perhaps now too disillusioned to be passionate about a bizarre story that treats death in such a playful way and free from any correctness.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a nice return to the origins of Tim Burton, a kind of machine that takes us back in time, perhaps exceeding by inserting too many characters, each with its deranged narrative purpose, that creates a collection of stories badly mixed together and that end up making the film inconclusive and confusing, even in its crazy gothic wake, and except perhaps for the very heartfelt and passionate relationship between mother and daughter who try to understand each other by overcoming their own generational barriers, there's little to cling to, to get excited with these characters, unless you are a real hardcore Tim Burton fan.
