From the Broadway hit to the 1986 film, Beetlejuice has gained a heightened amount of popularity from the public. Using a sense of wit, as well as elements of the supernatural world, Beetlejuice beautifully creates a story worth remembering for all audiences. Going into the second movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, released on September 6, 2024, people were hoping that it would have the same supernatural elements that made the first movie unique, bringing back cast members such as Winona Ryder Catherine O’Hara, and Michael Keaton, and directors Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. New actors like Jenna Ortega, who was famous for acting on the show Wednesday, were added to the cast as well.
The original plot follows the Maitland couple (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) who are stuck haunting their town after they die in a car accident. When a new family, the Deetzes (Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Jeffery Jones), moves into their house, they try to scare them away, to no avail. However, their efforts summon the ghost Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), who, through many both hilarious and terrifying attempts, tries to help the Maitlands.
Directed by the iconic Tim Burton, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice resumes the story of Lydia Deetz, as she grapples with her past troubles. Now a mother and a host of her own talk show, Lydia shows people parts of the supernatural world as part of her ability to see ghosts. When Lydia’s stepfather dies, Lydia, her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), and her stepmother (Catherine O’Hara) go back to the generational house that they lived in years ago. Astrid finds a way to open an afterlife portal, releasing Beetlejuice and allowing him to strike again.
Unique comedy and interesting dialogue connect the film with Beetlejuice, however, the sequel falls short, as it struggled with keeping a straight storyline and mixed in some parts of the musical, making it extremely confusing.
Throughout the story, there were several plot points that were introduced but lacked depth. For example, Astrid meets a boy in her neighborhood who actually turns out to be a ghost, which leads them to take a trip to the afterlife. In this, we see Astrid’s dad who died a few years earlier. Astrid feels resentment towards her mother for his death, but Lydia explains that their relationship was never a perfect one. However, in the afterlife, they act as if nothing was wrong between Lydia and Astrid’s father. This left me puzzled, as there was no proper closure and the character was forgotten about in the second half, despite being a major source of conflict in the first half of the movie.
The characters, in my opinion, were also extremely unlikeable in the story. For instance, Lydia’s significant other comes with her to her father’s wake, and suddenly decides to propose to her during a serious moment. Throughout the movie, his superficial personality comes out, such as when he tries to bond with Astrid because he wants her to accept that he is her mother’s fiancée and not simply because he cares for Astrid.
The last 25 minutes of the movie were also extremely hard to follow. In the last part of the movie, when Astrid comes back to the real world, we see Lydia and her fiancée at the very end, as well as Beetlejuice’s loved one, Dolores, frozen to stone. The characters then start to sing and dance around a wedding cake. However, then we see a flash-forward to Astrid getting married and interacting with a child that is supposedly hers that looks like Beetlejuice. The scene then rewinds and it just shows Beetlejuice saying that nothing ever happened and it was all a dream. The scene cuts again where Lydia is alone, and it leaves viewers wondering if the entire movie was all a dream as well. This sequence was trying to combine different elements from the musical and the movie, which can puzzle watchers that have seen both.
Although the movie was filled with plot holes, there were some aspects I enjoyed. One was Catherine O’Hara’s performance throughout the film. Her enthusiasm for acting always shined through and she always provided comedic relief for everyone during mundane moments. Even though one could argue that she does overact, she is known to be enthusiastic and fulfills her role as the overly dramatic stepmother.
Still, despite the well-known cast, the movie was a disappointment because of the plot holes and the mundanity. If viewers want a more slow-paced movie, and a mix of theatrical and artistic elements, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice would be the right movie. However, if somebody is looking for a more action-packed and a varied sense of humor, Beetlejuice may not be the movie that you are looking for.
4/10
