Before we begin, there are a few things to address: first, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (and, by constraint, Beetlejuice). Second, the decline in Tim Burton’s public reputation must have started with Sleeping Hollow (1999), which was, for the record, neither sleepy nor hollow. It’s a good time at the movies with gnarled, fleshy trees and a headless horseman. is not Is it funny? Yet the film represents the moment when Burton took a direction that seemed to remove the Caligari-a New Wave style that the director perfected and owned with works like Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1984), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and, of course, Beetlejuicethe 1986 film that entirely distilled the “mall goth” credo three years before Hot Topic became a thing, much to the chagrin of Reagan parents everywhere.
The most crucial, however, was that of 2001. Planet of the Apeswhich not only offered Burton’s least Burtonian film up to that time, but also highlighted the general moviegoing public’s shifting interest from the hand-made (artificial but not cloying) to a star like Mark Wahlberg, in whom they could find a perpetually incredulous, frowning, chest-beating Bostonian star, not unlike one of those human-enslaving apes. Needless to say, we’re still dealing with the ongoing shift in emphasis that puts forward terribly deadly films like The Union (2024) brings to Netflix more than a dozen original, hand-crafted films from more emotionally invested filmmakers. In addition to Ape-raham Lincoln, Burton Planet of the Apes There were other problems, not least the fact that the director seemed to have lost interest in his childhood toys. Yet Betelgeuse was there the whole time, watching from a dusty diorama, waiting to be summoned.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice The film opens like the original, with a grand and colorful musical statement by Danny Elfman. The camera snakes through the streets of a miniature Winter River, Connecticut; the familiar backlit font introduces us to the key characters that made this film possible 36 years after the first one. Tim Burton is back—in more ways than one—with several key players more than ready to dive back into this weird and wonderful world.
Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is now the host of one of those reality TV shows where she chats with guests and visits spooky places. Despite Lydia’s commitment to the afterlife, her TV show is all about the supernatural, but far removed from the real-life bureaucratic activities of the afterlife. With a growing addiction to pills and her New Age producer stepfather, Rory (Justin Theroux), Lydia isn’t coping very well.
36 years later Beetlejuicethe sequel brings back friends and monsters
Tim Burton, whose last film was a box office flop Dumboreturns to characters that offer familiar comfort with new dimensions
Add to that Lydia’s daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who is constantly teased at the all-girls academy she attends and resents her mother for what she considers to be bullshit. Astrid can’t understand why her “presumed mother” doesn’t use her powers to communicate with Richard (Santiago Cabrera), Astrid’s father, who died between films. When Astrid meets the cute boy next door (Arthur Conti), she may have better things to do than criticize her mother’s vocation. Then there’s Lydia’s mother, Delia (Catherine O’Hara), the performance artist whose works consist mostly of her and the documentation of her oversized ego. For her part, O’Hara didn’t hesitate to reprise the role of Delia for the sequel.
As for Lydia’s father Charles, once played by Jeffrey Jones, a convicted sexual predator, his character is handled brilliantly in a clever sequence that instantly reminds us of what Tim Burton is capable of. For the rest of the film, Charles is a wandering torso with a blood-spurting tube coming out of it. The nagging question of whether the actor will be there is nonsense and illustrates how well-tuned the game is. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is about managing public expectations.
Here’s an older, wiser director who knows what the original film means to a lot of people, who knows what it meant in the past, and who’s still just as grumpy in every sense of the word – and, in some ways, even grumpier. Ultimately, Beetlejuice is the perfect character to offer a lively, cartoonish commentary not just on his own absurdities, but on the inherent absurdities of a life spent doing things mechanically. Even the cellphone age we live in gets lambasted, because what else can a 66-year-old director do but suggest that it’s not he who’s grown small, but the movies?
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is more than just fan service, even if the idea of a sequel may not appeal to all viewers. A sequel so long after the previous iteration has to have something to offer to justify its existence. Enter Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice), the “bio-exorcist” and macabre mistress of ceremonies who, beyond any living, breathing entity in the film, is its beating heart.
Tim Burton’s return to an older style is more than enough reason to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice exist
Audiences can rejoice in the knowledge that all the creative and invigorating aspects of Burton’s best films are back and more important than ever.
Michael Keaton is spectacularly out of step with current comedy trends, sticking firmly to his once-nervous portrayal. Keaton is by far the best part of the film, the necessary element in tracing the lives of the three women at the center of the film. He also provides opportunities for brazen, bombastic forays into what can only be described as raw Burton. Even in the grotesqueries played for laughs, there are more striking images than in most contemporary horror films.
When we first meet Betelgeuse in this new film, he’s overseeing a row of shrunken-headed skyscrapers under the direction of Bob, who is still dealing with Lydia in his own bizarre way. After all these years, the only thing that’s really changed about Betelgeuse is that he’s had time to work on new elements. But it’s not long before an opportunity presents itself for him to cross over again and woo his beloved, spiky-banged Lydia.
Willem Dafoe, a former actor from terrible cop shows who takes on the role of a cop in the afterlife, and Monica Bellucci, as Delores, whose spectacular entrance with stitches to the music of the Bee Gees’ “Tragedy” makes it clear that Burton appreciates the morbidly funky, or the morbidly funky. Delores is a member of a soul-sucking cult and also happens to be Betelgeuse’s ex. Furious at the perceived wrongs that Betelgeuse didn’t want her to drain his soul, Delores sets out on the warpath to find and rid herself of her former love once and for all.
Suppose we choose carefully among Burton’s productions between 2003 and 2019. In this case, we can choose to highlight the colossal failure of Dumbo (2019), the deeply misguided and totally unentertaining film Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Dark Shadows (2012), or look further back at films that seemed to work, even if they were a little diluted, like Big fish (2003) and Corpse Bride (2005), the latter being pale in complexion and comparison with The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), with a story and characters by Burton, but directed by Henry Selick (Coraline).
It would be a blatant lie and a great disservice to say that Burton has stopped being Burton, but the fact that these films from the 2000s don’t sing like the old ones calls into question the fecundity of the production of the 80s and 90s – between Little-wee‘s Great adventure And Mars attacks! (1996) – was always going to go to seed. Now, in 2024, we have Beetlejuice Beetlejuicewhich is surprising – in its cunning and in its very existence.
Although it’s not as good as the original movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is Tim Burton’s best film in over two decades. If there was ever a time when audiences should embrace the handmade, it’s now, when the glut of films on offer consists of textureless images designed to lubricate consumption. This is a film that should be seen big and strong. While some aspects of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice remember Burton’s stylistic imitations like Monkey Bones (2001) and The mysterious men (1999) is only because there was a time when Burton’s influence was undeniable. Yet even a stapled undead Tim Burton offers more in a severed finger than most of today’s “oddball” films.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is released in all theaters on Friday, August 6.