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Good clean fun even though there’s no unique angle to this, and let’s face it, it was going to be very hard to recapture the original’s paranormal comedy spirit with flexible imagination.
There’s a little too much story setup with a small payoff. The pop culture references come aplenty but none of it reach profound freshness for 2024.
On the bright side, the three ladies get loads of attention. Winona Ryder inhabits the Maitland’s mannerisms without her Lydia Deetz goth girl habits. Jenna Ortega is decent but could’ve used sharper material. No complaints on Catherine O’Hara getting better jokes. And Michael Keaton, not quite up to the manic energy of the 1988 iteration, still conjures healthy wit to make the events sing.
Monica Bellucci after her solid musical intro is only there for narrative placeholder.
Burton does his usual cinematic mixing of old fashioned visual & practical effects, film references (Mexican gothic flashback), and trademark expressionist aesthetic. The art direction, costumes, goopy makeup, is captured with great clear-eyed photography by Harris Zambourlakis.
Plus the needle drops are also cute (the finale MacArthur Park dance) once you stay towards Pino Donaggio’s Carrie moment.
In the long string of legacy sequels its no Top Gun Maverick, but its loads better than Mary Poppins Returns.
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