“I’d rather make memories with the people I love than be haunted by them later.”

89%🔋First and foremost can we all let out a sigh of relief?! Beetlejuice is a deeply treasured film in my family and I’m sure for a lot of yours as well so the stakes were high with this sequel that came about 36 years later. Was it too late and did they fuck it up? Absolutely not.

Tim Burton still has it let’s get that out the way now, maybe it was the fact he was returning to this world but something felt revitalized and I was really overjoyed to see him return to his strengths. He melds wacky, at times creepy, other moments dark and creates a concoction that is intoxicatingly funny!

I was expecting a lot of fan service and yes there is some but surprisingly there isn’t as much as you’d think. I know that is gonna score major point for the more hypercritical folk, I didn’t need more, what I got was perfect. I’ll add here that some great visual gags that used different filmmaking techniques were used that I got a real kick out of, the animation sequence being one.

I think the biggest issue with the film is that it has far too many plot threads and not all of them coalesce to make a linear narrative, it more zig zags but each component of the film serve a greater purpose- to entertain! Isn’t that what film is for? I had a blast watching this so while I can see that too many plot points being a negative for people I relished it all.

The movies great ability is that it captures escapism through its afterlife and its incredibly detailed and impressive production design. By all counts, the film felt alive and while shot on digital there were so many crafts that are classic that are utilized that the film doesn’t ever become a cgi mess.

The acting by all involved was stupendous besides Monica Belluci who didn’t have many lines and kind of just walked around. Michael Keaton agains once brings Beetlejeuse’ hyper comedic chops to the forefront, he was just as funny here as he was in the first. Catherine o’ Hara was perfection and had me in stitches and I felt the essence of an estranged mother daughter relationship between Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega was captured quite well. 

In closing, I was elated to return to this world, was over the moon it turned out to be better than expected and had a joyful time with my siblings and nephew. A few more points I wanna make, the makeup is flawless as is the costuming and music choices were slapping. They did so much right with this and you could tell they knew they had to do it justice. I think they did! My nephew, he’s 7 really loved it, I asked him what score he would give and he said an 8.5 so for that I’m rounding it up to a 9, ! I can’t wait for him to see the first one! 🤩. Here’s a quip I thought of that folks who see it will understand, Homegirl thought she couldn’t find that recipe again but they sure the fuck did with this one. 😅

“Someone left the 🎂 out in the rain…” 🎶