Like many my age, my cinematic discovery of Michael Keaton was the same as my cinematic discovery of Tim Burton (well, it was actually Batman Returns before Batman.) The third for each would end up being Beetlejuice.
As a kid, it took me a lot of convincing that the guy behind the Batman mask was the same playing the bio exorcist. Still, it was a near perfect introduction to the mind of Tim Burton (I did not get to Pee Wee until later in life), as it made me aware at a young age directors could have there own sense of style.
After 36 years since the original, Burton has had many ups and a good amount of downs (lest we forget the remake of Dumbo, which we all should), but still shows his sense of quirky style in BeetleJuice BeetleJuice.
Simultaneously, the film also is thirty six years since the events of the original, with Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) hosting a TV haunted house show of sorts, though sadly is not on good terms with her estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega). One day, she gets a call from her step mother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) that her father has died, and the funeral will be held back in that old Burton esq town of Winter River (it is not much of a spoiler to say that the Charles Deetz character has died. If the trailer did not give it away, then google what Jeffrey Jones, the actor who portrayed him, has been accused of the last few decades and you will see why.) As you can assume, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) is still fresh in their minds.
There are some fresh new faces (well, not actually fresh) in the cast. You have Willem Dafoe in the role the late Sylvia Sidney had in the original as a sort of manager of the afterlife. Monica Belluchi (who I just learned is dating Burton IRL) stars as an old romantic interest of the titular character. Lydia’s current boyfriend Rory (who at times is the creepiest character in the film) is played nicely by Justin Theroux. Finally, there is Arthur Conti as a local boy named Jeremy, who strikes up a friendship with Astrid.
One of the main issues with the film is not the characters themselves, but that there are just a few too many. At least one or so of the story lines could have been cut, even with a run time that is under two hours. What made the original easy to follow was that the story line was straightforward and did not go off in other directions. It was best summed up by my 7 year old nephew Lenny who said (after giving the movie a 5 out of 10) that “all the adult stuff was super boring.”
Parents, the PG-13 rating is for the same stuff that was in the original (although that film was rated PG and is to date the only PG film I have ever seen with an F bomb). The swearing and scares here are basically the same (including one F bomb).
Another choice from the first film that worked well was not having the main character introduced until much later into the film. In the sequel, Betelgeuse is mainly front and center, although that is not a bad thing, (Keaton is still out of this world entertaining.)
To piggy back off of what my nephew (who did have a killer Beetlejuice outfit on at the theater) already said, this sequel comes to life anytime Keaton is on screen as well as when Burton’s version of the afterlife is in full view.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 