The dead. The living. Can they co-exist? That is what we are here to find out.

I’m trying to capture the perfect primal scream! I am going to blow it up and mount it on the wall, and I invite all of you to do the same for the collective. We cannot sincerely celebrate all that was good about our dearly departed, not until we have released the horror that they have inflicted upon us.

A modern Tim Burton production that is competently structured, thematically cohesive and doesn’t look like dogshit?! What kind of alternate universe is this?

It is safe to say, and made very clear based on my LB diary entries, that I am not a Tim Burton fan. While I do think his juxtaposition of the mundane surroundings with the bizarre geometry, surreal character design and dreamlike/supernatural narrative creates a visual and thematic contrast in his work that is hard to replicate, which works wonderfully in the likes of OG Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, I can’t really say that his ideas and the way he writes about the misunderstood or marginalized, especially in his poetry, really resonate with me, as in my eyes they come across as tyring, repetitive and way to ambitious for their own good. Not to mention that over the years, the image of the infamous “Burtonesque” look drastically changed, as it transformed itself into a kitsch method of using a well-established outsider's unique and personal artistic expression on undercooked projects of banal taste and naive imitation to trick audiences into seats. But even with my low set expectations on the sequel, since I’m in a relationship with the most diehard Burton/Johnny Depp enthusiast, I knew that seeing this on premiere day was an inevitability I couldn’t escape, and I’m honestly surprised at how much of a fun and engrossing time it turned out to be for both of us!

The standout aspect of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is its commitment to good practical effect work, and how focused Burton and company are on going back to the routes, further expanding the macabre and ludicrous nature of the afterlife, whose design and function I absolutely adore and find the most creative and fulfiling concept he has ever done, that is referential to Tim’s glory days, without relying on the nostalgia as much as I expected. The use of well-animated claymation for the worms and recaps, the black and white Italian retelling of Beetlejuice’s and Dolores’s past reminiscent of the Universal monster era and the real built rectangular hallway sets and creature puppetry, shout out to my man Bob, are only a few of the visual wonders that left me with a wide-open smile from left to right. If you are into the whacky visual gags and the eccentric writing with an insane joke per minute ratio that these films are built upon, I’m guaranteed you’ll find some level of enjoyment in the over-the-top nature of Beetlejuice's return. The story itself is solidly constructed and feels more natural in how it develops the cast and their personalities, with nice ties with the original, with a niche focus on the three generations of mother, daughter and granddaughter of the Deetz family and how each of them deal with the process of grief, despite some cliches like Lydia being under medication due to her past trauma still haunting her like we haven’t seen that in the horror sequel space a million times before 🙄.

But at the end of the day, the stories in both films serve more as a vessel for the production design and character dynamics to run wild in order to let the chaos and absurdity unleash, and the cast absolutely carries this film on their shoulders, with not a single bad performance in sight. Michael Keaton steals the show yet again as the titular character, embodying his physicality and horniness like he has never left the role in 30+ years, and it is nice to see that he isn’t made the star of the show in order to make his appearances more purposeful. Winnona and Jenna have such a precious synergetic mother/daugter relationship, both in their roles as Lydia/Astrid as in real life, that anchors the film in a very lovely manor, and Catherine O’ Hara and Willem Dafoe bring out the MVP guns as a lowbrow Marina Abramović and a killed action star turned detective with fantastic comedic timing and best written jokes/gags that they easily became standouts for me. Although the cast is excellent throughout, it’s also what hurts the film the most due to how many sideplayers operate at the same time, leading to a conclusion that in order to wrap itself up, pushes a lot of the side faces, like Astrids father and the boy she meets, completely out of the picture once they’ve served the plot moving forward despite the continuous build up to a more satisfying resolution, leading to a third act that feels heavily rushed as a result. Monica Bellucci’s Dolores, despite a fantastic presence with an incredibly sick and disturbing introduction, especially made me question the amount of characters that this story needs, and why was she included in the first place, other than being Tim’s partner in real life, as she spends the entire runtime stalking Beetlejuice and sucking souls while the narrative tries to tie her and BJ with the toxic and manipulative relationship plot of Lydia and Rory, only for her arc to conclude in a hilariously bad and unimportant way. Not to mention the final 10 or so minutes that feel so lazily and abruptly put together (there is a scene in the ending that looks like it came out of a Sam Raimi film, which I do not know if I count as a positive or a negative).

To conclude, while the following for the ghost with the most is far from perfect and dragged down a bit by its rushed ending and an overabundance of characters, its also an incredibly fun, charming and creative experience with committed performances, incredible direction and refreshing set pieces that is, in my opinion, Burtons most redefined and successful work since the Big Fish, and it is good to see him take a few steps backwards in order to take one leap forward after over a decade of failures. More creative shenanigans like these, less diarrhea like Alice in Wonderland ljubi brat ❤️