Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review: A Strange and Unusual Sequel Starring Michael Keaton & Winona Ryder

Spoiler-free you know I'm something of a strange and unusual myself where's vle juice where's vle juice hi I'm Lady Geneva and on my channel I like to talk about entertainment media beetle juu is my favorite Tim Burton film so of course I was going to have to review the sequel now just because I'm a fan of the original does not mean that I'm obligated to love or dislike a sequel being made my long-standing appreciation for the first film does influence how I experience this new film and of course I'm going to make some comparisons between the two it would be impossible for me to watch this new film without thinking about the first one but I would like to think that I can be fair about not swinging too far in either one of those hyperbolic directions with the feedback that I provide if you are new here the way that I do things for these opening weekend film reviews is a spoiler-free section first and then a spoiler section afterwards so depending on your preference you may proceed accordingly for however far into who spoilers you would like to Journey if I were to boil down my feedback of this sequel to one major point of praise and one critique it's a very easy decision what to choose for each I'll do the criticism first and then I will finish this section with high praise the one major criticism I have for this film is that the Ensemble is overcrowded the first film predominantly focused on Barbara and Adam matland and then the Deets family consisting of Charles deia and Lydia you had oo popping in and out as a supporting character and Beetle Juice himself only Pops in from time to time even if the film is named after him and he's highly memorable there is no transformative Arc or deeper nuanced exploration of him as a character he is there to be an instigator and an agent of chaos and that's about it this sequel is trying to do far too many things and I'm not entirely sure why they took this approach of making such an over stuffed Ensemble you've got Lydia's relationship with her daughter astd Lydia's relationship with her boyfriend Rory astd has a subplot I won't spoil the details of in this section and then the story also semi-regularly checks in on beetle juu Willam deo's character Monica Baluchi's character and another small subplot I will not be too specific about because of spoilers but I will simply say that it has something to do with the Deets family that is so many different things and when I reflect on all of it it is highly apparent that the one glaring standout in a bad way is Justin Thor's character not only is the character of Rory insufferable what they have him doing is simply not necessary when the rest of the characters and storylines are providing what they're providing whatever you thought you were doing to explore Lydia you did not need him to do that you could have just as easily kept the focus on what's going on with Lydia and astred there is a rift in their relationship and the way that this is being explored is more than sufficient to deliver compelling dramatic character work but also to facilitate various wacky hyinks of the supernatural ongoings I rewatched beetel juice right before seeing the sequel I have seen seen it numerous times of course but I wanted to refresh myself on any details that may have slipped away since my last rewatch and there is not a single drop of filler on that film it starts and takes off running and at no point does it drag the sequel did have moments where I was wondering how long we had left moments where it began to feel like a 2 and 1/ half hour film which isn't the best sign when your runtime is closer to 1 hour and 45 minutes and if you don't already know this I am not opposed to a long run time if a film keep me invested and interested for 3 hours I will happily watch for all 3 hours and when it's finished I will proceed to demand that you release an Extended Cut when I discover that you have more scenes hidden away somewhere that you filmed but didn't include for this or that reason Justin thorough doesn't give a bad performance in this all of the performances were terrific though admittedly I have a soft spot for the most over-the-top character performances from people like Michael Keaton as Beetle juu and Katherine Ohara as deia de if you thought Catherine was doing the most in 1988 she heard what you said and responded with actually I'm going to crank this up to an 11 out of 10 Jenna Ortega was very well suited to join the beetle juu world because she has increasingly demonstrated an artistic preference for stories that are strange and unusual but also the creators and showrunners of Wednesday Alfred Goff and Miles Miller wrote the screenplay for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Tim Burton was a producer on Wednesday so all of these people already have a professional working relationship and presumably a good one if they're continuing to collaborate as far as I can tell it's been a seamless transition from one project to the next however the further I got into this film's runtime the more frustrated I became by how overcrowded things were and how the stories and characters that were interesting were being stretched thin and there was this uneven feeling of what was captivating to watch and what wasn't that was what made me reflect and ask myself how would tweak this so that we have a better momentum like what we had in the first film and then the answer became clear get rid of Justin Thor's character problem solved now having said that I still had a lot of fun watching the film overall and I ultimately landed on a four-star rating on letter box especially because of the most standout aspect of the film something this film had that truly sets it apart from many of the other films I've watched this year the visuals now strong visuals are not enough on their own to carry a film of course you should have compelling characters and a great story but strong visuals can and will heavily elevate my impression of a film because I love maximalist visuals when I watch Beetle juu the more that the years go by the more I love it because of this incredible craftsmanship for what feels like dying art forms in the film making process I'm not saying that they're actually dying but they do feel like they're being less frequently called upon the miniatures clation Prosthetics and more specifically being used to create such an over-the-top level of visual spectacle Beetle Juice is full of strange and unusual creatures that exist because of those art forms now Tim Burton has been a topic of discussion for a while now among film fans with a fair few people feeling as though he may have lost his touch it was almost as if he had fallen down a rabbit hole and never been able to get his way out of there but with this sequel it feels like he has found his way back to the movie making magic that made so many film fans fall in love with his art in the first place there was a quote from him making the rounds on film Twitter after this new release screened at the Venice Film Festival as you grow older sometimes your life takes a little bit of a turn I sort of lost myself a little bit for me this movie was a re-energizing getting back to the things I love doing and the people I love doing it with this film had so many of the same things that were visually remarkable about the first one these incredible Prosthetics costumes makeup the Miniatures the sets clation all of these things give the film this distinct handmade texture and the world feels so much more immersive as a result now if it's a competition of course I still prefer the first film but I had always assumed that that was going to be the case I was simply hoping when going into watching the sequel that I would get to experience incredible visual Artistry and have a lot of fun with the supernatural H Jinks that made the first film so memorable and this sequel delivered both of those things which is why I ultimately landed on that four star rating I really love films as an art form and I do rate a lot of new releases that I watch at four stars but to that point I would also clarify that there are certain films that are new that I'm highly certain I'm going to dislike or outright despise if I were to go see them at the cinema so I often end up skipping those furthermore when it comes time for me to choose which films to review here on my channel I usually only have time to review one new film per week at most so if I've seen more than one new release I'm often inclined to pick the one that I enjoyed more instead of struggling to put together an outline of my thoughts on a film that I ended up being more lukewarm towards if you're a three or three and a half star film you're likely going to get skipped in favor of me talking about a film that I gave four stars Spoilers to Beetle feel afraid to express yourselves Don't Be Afraid now let's talk about spoilers this sequel reintroduces us to Lydia Deets who now has a television show where she showcases her ability to speak to ghosts people who want her help with their homes being haunted having ghosts still lingering around them Miss Lydia is more than happy to handle those things Rory is her boyfriend but he's also the producer for this television show and he's just extremely annoying for the entire film I had a lot of problems with what he brought or did not bring to the story Lydia has become this almost fragile pushover of a character it was borderline nonsensical to me how they chose to write her character in this even if you make the argument that she's had to deal with the wear and tear of life and loss and being haunted by ghosts for decades I simply do not believe that she would not be able to tell that this man is a loser if you watch the first Beetle Juice film there is a point where he is trying to trick Lydia into saying his name three times so that he will be freed but her instincts are strong enough that she refuses to say it a third time she then proceeds to call him out as being the snake creature that had recently attacked her family it was you wasn't it me the snake no what snake you kids in your imagination just say it if she could stand up to Beetle juu as a teenager who had plenty of issues going on then you want me to believe that now as a grown woman with Decades of additional life experience she's just going to throw her hands up and listen to this weirdo man with a teeny tiny ponytail no I don't think I don't think and what is so frustrating about this is that you already have plenty of other material for Lydia that is more interesting and deep and funny everything you could want to do with Lydia is already provided by other characters and the other facets of her story in this sequel she has this Rift in her relationship with her daughter astd because of the trauma of Astrid's father dying and astd being upset that Lydia who claims to be able to see ghosts for some unknown reason cannot see Astrid's father then you also have the detail of Lydia's Father Charles passing away so that's obviously going to further compound her grief you're going to dig into Old Wounds by having her go back to that house and remember all the ways that she and her family were attacked and terrorized by Beetle juu when she was a teenager so on the dramatic side of things you're covered on the comedic side of things you have her relationship with dilia who is such a cartoon character and I mean that affectionately Katherine Ohara seamlessly slips back into this character and makes her even more ridiculous and camp and I thank her for that you also have the comedic aspect of Lydia going back into that Supernatural world on a much larger scale and Beetle juu being the Menace that he is he will always instigate a situation in which Lydia is able to play the straight man of that comedic pairing so we have drama we have comedy and if you want to have some sort of transformative Arc you can do things like have her repair that relationship with ASD you can have her achieve some sort of breakthrough about her supernatural abilities about dealing with grief and loss and remembering her own power as a person to be able to handle both the everyday human and the extraordinary Supernatural challenges that she faces in her life and we do not need Rory to facilitate her realizing what exactly that she's dating a bum all right I will see I'm willing to do the work a truly pointless waste of screen time I didn't need it I didn't like it it wasn't funny or compelling and it was very clearly the weakest part of the film was I happy to see him get gobbled up by the sandworm of course but it still didn't need to be in the film in the first place there was was more than enough satisfaction to be had in defeating one the teenage dirt bag ghost that tried to trick ASD and two defeating Beetle juices ex-wife now that I've elaborated on the only major criticism I have of this film I can go through more of the specifics of some of the things that were great overall there was an excellent cast I think everyone expected the performances to be spectacular given the names in the lineup so I will not overly repeat everything you would already expect to hear about how good Michael Keaton is at playing Beetle Juice or that Jenna or TGA is a terrific up incomer I'm just going to assume that you already know these things what I do want to say though is that I was delighted to see that Danny DeVito had a cameo in this he was such a perfect addition to this wonderfully weird world of this story seeing Monica beluchi reassemble her body only to suck the soul out of Danny DeVito and he deflated into what amounts to a skin suit truly only in the beetle juu world and wasn't it a be song that was playing when she was reassembling if it wasn't that I feel like it was a song from a similar era I already felt like I was going to have a fun time simply by the film's opening being such a close stylistic match to the first film's opening that mischievous score blaring over these shots that were flying over the town I knew that we were back and Monica beluchi she is a perfect example of why I would have rather we scrapped Rory Monica beluchi was there purely to be a baddie to look Fierce and to destroy every man that she encountered the movie could have been an hour and a half of Monica beluchi on a rampage while wearing fabulous dresses serving her best mortia Adams meets Sally the rag doll and I would have given it top marks I also thought it was a shame that we didn't get a more extended face off between her and Beetle Juice she went to all of that trouble to hunt him down and by the time she finally caught up to him I would have wanted to get a bit more snarky banter between them before she got eaten up by that sandworm and maybe we would have had more room for those things if we didn't have freaking Rory I mean really why exactly do I need to see Beetlejuice inject Rory with truth serum we needed further confirmation that he sucks news flash we already thought that we already wanted him gone you didn't need to be even more heavy-handed in trying to justify him getting gobbled up by a sandworm I was ready for him to go an hour ago but the most delightful surprise to me as far as cast and character goes was Astrid's father when they first first introduced him it's in these photographs of the two of them together and the second I saw those pictures I went excuse me do my eyes deceive me is that Santiago Cabrera I know Santiago Cabrera not personally but I recognized him straight away because that man has been popping up on things that I have watched over the years to name just a few of them because there are many he was on BBC's Merlin the Musketeers Steven soderberg's Chay films and I was really hoping that we would get to actually see him in one form or another and and not only in these photographs and then when they finally showed him it far surpassed anything I could have hoped for the makeup and Prosthetics they put on him were truly Immaculate the blue paint the fish not only did he have fish attached to him the fish were wiggling the Artistry was impeccable and the emotional payoff of this family reunion was so satisfying to watch if anyone was feeling like the melodrama was too heavy with this Rift between Lydia and ASD I would argue that it was entirely worth it to set up that family re Union the William defo character and his recurring bit felt highly indulgent but Beetlejuice is the exact world where you should indulge in such frivolity William defo is an actor playing an actor Who's acting like a cop in the afterlife because that's what he knows he needs to play a part he needs an audience he needs to put on a show and that compulsive quality of the character is what made him so funny in rewatching the first Beetle Juice film The Detail that stuck out to me the most was the fact that the film begins with Adam and Barbara being revealed to have previously lost a baby the implication is that she had a miscarriage and they talk about how they can try again to get pregnant during this vacation but then they die so they never got the chance to do that at the very end of the film when Lydia comes home from school with her grades Adam and Barbara are the ones that go through that with her they more or less become her parents ultimately all of the main characters get what they want and need Adam and Barbara get to be parents Lydia now has parental figures that actually look after her the way she needs them to remember that Lydia was in so much emotional turmoil that she was preparing to take her own life she was writing a note declaring as much by the time you read this I will be gone her actual father Charles gets to just lounge around and relax which was the whole reason he wanted that house and deia gets to continue making her art the subtext of what's being conveyed is that the these two don't have what it takes to be the parents that Lydia needs at this time in her life Adam and Barbara are the ones that can fulfill those roles it leaves the viewer with this really uplifting feeling of found family and of community and that this is a better way for Humanity to live to ensure that everyone's needs are met and everyone gets to feel fulfilled and cared for a small nitpick I have with the sequel When comparing it to the first film is that they have Lydia be extremely on the nose by having her narrate at the end of the film exactly what the takeaway is supposed to be she's saying something along the lines of I want to make memories with the ones I love rather than be haunted by them don't you think that you could have just shown us Lydia taking ASD on this trip and that would have conveyed that exact message subtextually and like I said I'm aware that this is nitpicking but this is what happens when you make a masterpiece and then declare you're going to make a sequel to it almost 40 years afterwards I'm going to hone in on the details of where it lives up to those high standards and where it perhaps does not ultimately Beetlejuice Beetlejuice still delivers that emotional heart of having family be at the center of the story and the zany Whimsical spectacle of this Supernatural world that we all love to watch so overall it was a really fun way to start a brand new month of cinematic viewing you're a figment of my imagination really is this a figment of your imagination