Sequels are like a box of chocolates. It says one thing on the box, and sometimes you taste it and you’re like “Yep, that’s what I bought.” And sometimes you taste it and you’re like “What is this garbage?”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is like buying a box of hershey’s kisses that actually has a chocolate cake inside it. Metaphors aside, what I mean by that is it’s good. Really good.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” picks up several decades after the original left off. The Maitlands have moved on, Lydia (Winona Ryder) has grown up, gotten married and has a daughter of her own named Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Delia (Catherine O’Hara) has moved up in the world of modern art, and Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) has been promoted to call center manager of the afterlife. Somehow. The main story centers around the three generations of Deetzes, and how they each cope with the loss of Charles Deetz, Delia’s husband, who dies at the beginning of the movie. Astrid’s story is more centered around her own feelings about the loss of her father and her intense disdain for Lydia’s new boyfriend. Beetlejuice is dealing with precisely none of this mushy stuff. He’s trying to escape the wrath of his undead wife, who is trying to suck his soul out.
When they journey back to the town where the original film was set, for Charles’s funeral, Beetlejuice sees this as his chance to finally marry Lydia, escape to the human world, and avoid his ex, once and for all. Thus, hijinks ensue. There are many plot points present in the movie that were not revealed in the trailers, so I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible.
First off, it’s impossible to discuss the movie without mentioning the sheer Burton aesthetic that oozes from every pore of it. Everything is cartoonish yet realistic, and the afterworld is as vibrant and depressingly bureaucratic as ever. His characters experience trauma that strikes a brilliant balance between being comically exaggerated and having genuine heart. The wounds on the ghosts in the afterlife each tell a story, and just from one glance you can tell exactly how they died. When it comes to appearance alone, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” meets the bar set by the original, even exceeds it.
Secondly, the story is good. That’s really about all I can say about it. Don’t buy your ticket expecting a heartfelt reflection on loss and grief, go in expecting a sequel to “Beetlejuice.” There are some very touching moments, but above all else it is a story designed to be fun to watch. All the players are all believable characters, and for the most part they haven’t changed much since the first movie. Delia is slightly more caring, but she’s still a very vain person. Beetlejuice is still spectacular.
It’s said that when Michael Keaton starts acting Beetlejuice, it’s like watching a demon possess him. This is completely accurate on all accounts. On top of that, Beetlejuice is still a complete dirtbag, and has not gotten nicer in the thirty years it took for the sequel to develop. He’s selfish, rude, but helpful if you offer him something. He’s Beetlejuice.
Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, is arguably the best new character of the movie. Jenna Ortega does a fantastic job once again of playing a dark, edgy teenager, but unlike Wednesday, Astrid is vulnerable. She shows her emotions, and she cares about her family, which makes her anger towards some of their actions believable and real. The loss of her father is also a major plot point for her, and her expression of loss feels arguably the most realistic of everyone. In a sea of comically exaggerated emotions, Astrid is brilliantly grounded in reality.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good things. The movie is great, but it shifts Lydia’s character drastically in a way that’s a little unbelievable, considering her personality in the first movie. She’s a weaker character, and the strong willed Lydia from the original film has almost completely vanished. Attempts are made to explain this change, but they never feel meaningful. Additionally, Beetlejuice’s ex is just a plot point. That’s really it, which is slightly disappointing. She exists in order for Beetlejuice to have some stuff to do at the beginning of the movie. It’s not necessarily bad, because she never really needed to be significant anyway, but it’s not really good either. It just feels like a waste. Fortunately, that’s about all the bad stuff out there. Even when the sequel repeats things from the original, it spins them and shifts them until they’re unrecognizable. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is everything a sequel should be and then some, and I am very pleased to give it an 8/10.