🎬_Pim_🎬’s review published on Letterboxd:
“The juice is loose.”
Finally got to see this and it was a real blast. My expectations were pretty high bc I heard some genuine good stuff, Burton still managed to surpass them! I do have a few flaws but mostly a lot of positivity I want to get through, so I’ll start with that.
Without a doubt the big heart of this movie is the star-studded cast, with both returning icons and new people. Although he might be 37 years older, Micheal Keaton still manages to deliver an amazing performance as the iconic Beetlejuice. I’m a huge fan of his performance in the original movie and this (almost) lived up to that! He’s still super funny, with some perfect line deliveries, plus the weirdo side didn’t disappoint either. Overal incredibly positive about him, props to Keaton!
Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara are both still amazing too, I love them in the original and I love them here. Wasn’t fully sold on what they did to character of Lydia Deetz tho, she just felt so different which makes sense ig but I think I would’ve preferred to see the goth Winona Ryder again… Delia was completely the same tho and I loved every second of it, Catherine is just so funny!
Now the new additions of the cast, there are quite a few but the 3 that impressed me the most were Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci and OF COURSE Jenna Ortega! From the moment Dafoe came on screen I could see that he was having the time of his live in this movie and it made ME happy too. Really loved his character, he was truly hilarious! Monica Bellucci was super fun too, really liked her origin and connection to Beetlejuice! And yeah, she was really fucking hot too… that scene where she stapled herself together was unbelievable, thanks mr Burton! And then the big star Jenna Ortega, loved her as always tbh, she’s just so amazing (and so hot). Really liked her character too, just a great addition to this cast!
If you have any doubt about the craziness of this movie it gets taken away very fast! Tim Burton truly didn’t hold back and once again let his twisted mind get crazy with this movie, I LOVED it! Once again there are so many amazing practical set pieces and effects that truly give this film so much sauce. There were also a few very unique sequences that I don’t want to spoil, but they really really impressed me! So no, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn’t less weird than the first film, it might even be MORE!
Something that I really appreciated was how they handled some off screen stuff, there are a few exclusions in the cast but the movie found a way for all of it to make sense, nothing felt weird at all! They just did some very smart stuff with the story and it just was really cool!
Another thing that made this movie such a fun experience were the many twists and turns it had! It was very unpredictable and there were quite some things that I really didn’t see coming, always like and appreciate it when a movie does that! It just keeps it from getting boring so that’s great!
The final big positive I have is the amazing score by Danny Elfman, because it once again SLAPPED! There were quite a few cool original tracks but mostly some really really great needle drops, both new ones and returning ones from the first film. I always appreciate a good soundtrack in a movie and that wasn’t any different here, it’ll be on repeat for the next week FOR SURE!!
So like I said, this film does have a few flaws imo. The biggest thing (I’ve heard many people say this) is how they tried to do too many plot points in the movie. Don’t get me wrong, everything they did was super fun and interesting, it just became a bit much. This made everything feel a lil confusing and rushed which isn’t something you want from your movie. Something that only made it worse was the fact that the first half felt a bit slow, and then in the second half they did so much stuff. The balance was weird and that kinda annoyed me, this was my only real problem tho and it didn’t bother me THAT much, but I think other people will/do hate it!
So overal Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is quite an amazing legacy sequel imo, Keaton still got it, and so do the other cast members. Tim Burtons crazy mind is still very enjoyable and makes for another great piece of film! I really loved this, please watch it if you love the first!
83/100
