“The juice is loose!”

Taking place over thirty years after the events of the first film, the Deetz family suffer a tragedy with Charles Deetz’ brutal death. Lydia, her mother Delia and her daughter Astrid go to the town of White River to attend Charles’ funeral. Soon, the portal to the afterlife opens back up with Astrid getting involved. Lydia must insist the help of her enemy Betelgeuse to save her daughter. Meanwhile, Betelgeuse has to deal with his ex-wife returning to steal his soul.

I really like the first Beetlejuice and I think I enjoyed it even more after my second watch. It is such a funny movie filled with great effects and hilarious comedy. I was intrigued when I heard they were making a sequel with Tim Burton returning as the director and Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles. This sequel definitely has a lot to live up to…

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has a lot going on in the story. It deals with Lydia and Astrid’s fractured mother-daughter relationship, Lydia’s scumbag of a boyfriend, Betelgeuse dealing with the return of his ex-wife, Astrid gets close with a guy her age as she argues with her family and so much more. The script feels very overstuffed as it tries to give every character a role in the story. Some of the plot lines work really well such as the relationship between Lydia and Astrid, Astrid and her friendship with Jeremy and Lydia getting to work with Betelgeuse, but some of them could have been fleshed out more. 

I feel that this movie would benefit from a longer runtime because there are a lot of great ideas in this movie that do not get used to their full potential. Still, the story is overall entertaining with its witty combination of horror and comedy. This movie has several subtle moments of comedy I could not help but laugh at and there a couple moments that did creep me out a Despite being mostly a comedy, there are some scary moments here and a few do not even involve the monsters from the afterlife. The tone for this sequel is perfect. 

Visually, I love the way this movie looks. I am a sucker for practical effects and crazy set designs and this film delivers. There are so many creative monster and ghost designs in this movie and they all look awesome. I especially love the headless corpse and all the minions working for Betelgeuse. The creature designs here make for the perfect blend of horror and comedy. The makeup and costume design are on point as this feels exactly like the quirky world of the afterlife. Also, there are some moments that do push the PG-13 rating. I feel that Tim Burton pushed the rating as far as he could with the visuals to try to see what kinds of designs he could get away with. 

Also, the cinematography is beautiful. The standout for me is the black and white montage of the relationship between Betelgeuse and Dolores. That was a lovely scene. Also, the climactic musical scene is colorful and lively. The colors in general pop and the movie always feels super energetic without ever being dull. The music in this movie is awesome. Hearing Danny Elfman’s score on the big screen is very enjoyable, but I also love the needle drops here, especially Tragedy by The Bee Gees. The production values are amazing in this movie and Tim Burton has done a lot to expand the afterlife in the Beetlejuice world.

The cast is awesome with Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse being the standout. He has not lost any of his crazy energy from over three decades ago. Keaton has a blast in this role and makes this movie so much more enjoyable with his presence. Betelgeuse himself is also more likable here than in the first film because he targets more unlikable characters while acting a lot less creepy than he did in the first film. Here, Betelgeuse is a chaotic trickster who no one is safe around. Betelgeuse is easily my favorite character in this movie and this is another movie where Michael Keaton steals the show.

Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder return as Delia and Lydia Deetz respectively and they have retained their energy from the first film too. Winona Ryder has some of the most emotional moments in the film and Catherine O’Hara is just hilarious throughout the film. I feel that Lydia and Delia as characters grew a lot between the two films, especially Lydia who uses her ability to see ghosts for something really clever while trying to reconnect with her daughter Astrid. 

Jenna Ortega is the perfect fit for this cast. She has already been in some horror-comedy movies and show and she plays the daughter of Lydia perfectly. Ortega feels like the straight woman in this cast of crazies, but her character has a lot of resentment for ghosts and her mom’s obsession with them. I found Astrid to be a sympathetic daughter who felt neglected, especially with how Lydia’s new boyfriend treated her. I do not think there could have been a better casting choice for Lydia’s daughter because Ortega fits right in here.

The supporting cast is mixed. Justin Theroux is fun as the slimy boyfriend and this movie does a fantastic job at making him the sleaziest guy possible. William Defoe if fun as Wolf Jackson, but underused. Arthur Conti is one of the surprises here with his character.

My biggest disappointment is Monica Bellucci as Delores. Delores has one of the coolest villain introduction scenes I have seen in a while and she gets little else to do. You could honestly take her out of the film and not much changes aside from a few souls do not get sucked. Bellucci has a potentially great role that gets absolutely wasted unfortunately. Aside from the underwhelming villain, the cast is fantastic with both veterans and newcomers.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is overstuffed, but it has a lot of charm and hilarity. The cast absolutely makes this movie work as they bring this bonkers story and world to life. Tim Burton still has a lot energy and passion in him for this world over three decades after the first film. I could see fans of the first film enjoying this film a lot. Not as good as the first film, but still a really good time at the movies.

My Rating: 32/50 Tickets.