It’s spooky season!
And just in time for Halloween season, famous director Tim Burton released a sequel to one of his most popular movies, Beetlejuice.
Since the release of the first Beetlejuice in 1988, “Beetlejuice” has become the third-most streamed movie on Halloween day.
“Beetlejuice” won seven awards and 11 nominations, including a Saturn Award for the best horror film of the 90s.
Finally, after 36 years the sequel was released: “Beelejuice Beetlejuice.“
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” features most of the cast from the original including Micheal Keaton as Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz and Catherine O’Hara as Delia.
Additions to the cast included Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, daughter of Lydia and granddaughter to Delia; Monica Bellucci as Delores, who is BeetleJuice’s ex-wife; Willem Defoe, who plays Wolfe Jackson and Arthur Conti who plays Jeremey Frazier.
The movie begins as Richard, Delia’s husband, dies on a safari trip after being in a plane crash. This family accident gives the Deetz family a chance to all meet up at their home, which they refer to as the “Ghost House,” as it is haunted by its former residents Adam and Barbara Maitland.
I enjoyed the recollection of the family back in the Ghost House.
Jeremey makes a promise to Astrid saying that if she chants a spell, she will be able to be with her father in the afterlife. In reality, Jeremey was a ghost and he and Astrid switched places spiritually, leaving Astrid stuck in the land of the dead. Lydia then calls on Beetlejuice for help to bring Astrid back to the mortal world. He only agrees to help Lydia if she agrees to marry her and she accepts.
Throughout Astrid, Lydia and Beetlejuice’s journey trying to escape the land of the dead, Delores haunts and kills people in the land trying to reach Beetlejuice.
Personally, I think Monica Buccelli only had a role in this movie because she is Tim Burton’s new girlfriend. Her role was a bit confusing to me, every few minutes they would cut to her killing someone then return to the main plot. She added unnecessary characters and took away screen time from the other main characters. In my opinion, trying to get Lydia and Astrid out of the land of the dead was enough to carry on throughout the entire movie.
I loved the reunions of some characters, and I also like the number of flashbacks and allusions from the original Beetlejuice to the new one. Lydia’s bangs, the black and white snake, the shrunken head and the mother-daughter dynamic we previously got from Delia and Lydia, we now get from Lydia and Astrid.
Overall, I give ‘Beetlejuice-Beetlejuice’ a 7.5/10. I wish the plot was more influenced by the original, giving viewers the same nostalgic feel, but I enjoyed the number of flashbacks we got from the original.
