Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Cinema Visit of 2024 - 31

This film is easily my most anticipated movie of the year. This is also the third part of my ‘Film coming out in 2024 where the previous instalment came out at least 20 years ago. The previous films in this series are Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and Twisters. It was nice to see the screening quite full with about 70 people in for a 1pm Saturday showing. Easily the best attended film I have sat through this year.

36 years after Beetlejuice, we see Lydia who is now a drug dependant TV star who presents a paranormal show when she gets word that her father has died and takes her daughter Astrid back home and things go strange from there. 

THE GOOD POINTS

Michael Keaton

Keaton feels like he is having the time of his life playing Beetlejuice this time. Having watched Beetlejuice the day before seeing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice it was obviously the same performance with the same enthusiasm but it seems like he is having fun playing it this time. There are a couple of musical moments from Beetlejuice which made me chuckle the first time and in the church it was a surprise.

Other Central Performances

Winona Ryder manages to make the Lydia we see in this film the older version of the one we saw in Beetlejuice. The relationship between Ryder and Ortega is a nice one as its believable that there is friction between the two but at least there is a relationship that doesn't feel too dissimilar to the one between Lydia and Delia. Jenna Ortega was perfectly cast as Astrid and she's written in a way that makes her sceptical to her mother's day job but doesn't make her come across as an unlikeable.  Ortega probably got cast because of Tim Burton's involvement in 'Wednesday' but I still think that she's a very good actress and there were a couple of times when she smiled and I thought it was a weird to see her not have a dour look on her face but she manages to hold her own with memorable characters and also Beetlejuice.

Catherine O'Hara is very good as Delia. Like Ryder, she seems to be playing an older version of Delia instead of a new interpretation. She's not quite as vain as she was in the first film but she's changed enough to still seem like the original Delia. When she is introduced she is in some horrible looking art gallery so has managed to carve out a career which didn’t seem likely in the first one. Justin Theroux is ok as Rory but does seem to be just there as people are running around. He has things to do but compared to other characters, he doesn't seem quite as good. Monica Bellucci is the villain Delores and while she doesn't have much in the way of dialogue, she still comes across as a decent baddie and something to drive the story. Willem Dafoe is always great in whatever he is in. I think this is the third time I have seen in 2024 and each performance is really different to the other and equally as impressive. He is one of those actors that can deliver a great performance in whatever he is in.

Practical Effects

I had heard that Tim Burton wanted to use practical effects instead of relying on CGI. This is always a good way of making movies because practical effects more often than not age a lot better than CGI. Rewatching the first film, it’s amazing how the effects stand up. The effects used in this film are really good and even though there are special effects used they are kept to a minimum (I suspect) and the practical effects have their day in the spotlight. 

Seemed like they cared

Sometimes when a film comes back after a prolonged period of time, it’s easy to see the film as basically a cash grab. Trying to squeeze a few dollars/pounds out of a nostalgic crowd but whilst that might be the case with the executives at Warner Brothers, it does feel like everyone involved in the production cared about what they were doing. Tim Burton cared about this world and that is whilst there are enough references and nods to the previous film, things have been updated for a modern audience.

Wedding Scene

The whole wedding portion of the film is probably my favourite of the entire film.  There have been a few films recently where the film just sort of ends and doesn't have a big final confrontation but we definitely get that in this film with all the main characters converging on the church. The use of MacArthur Park was used in a superb way. 

Soundtrack

Its something that has stood out to me more a lot recently and even though the songs used is kept to a minimum they are good enough for me to buy the soundtrack. Always happy to hear Tragedy in any form, Right Hear Waiting by Richard Marx is funny when it comes out of Michael Keaton's mouth and as I just wrote, MacArhtur Park is the best song in the film. 

Right amount of Beetlejuice

One of my genuine worries going into this film was whether they would overuse Beetlejuice. He was only in the first one for about a quarter of an hour in a 92 minute film. I feared that they would stick him in way too much just to please a new audience but thankfully even though I think he is in it for way longer than was in the first film, it always feels like he is there for a reason. 

Charles (a.k.a The Elephant in the Room)

The absence of Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin was to be expected because of Alec Baldwin's legal troubles and although I though that there was a chance we could get a Davis cameo. It was always interesting to see how they would deal with the absence of Jeffrey Jones. They deal with it in a creative way. They killed him off but they could have just had a throw away line but instead of this they went to animation to show the death happen and then his body appears throughout the film. Not sure who did the voice but I thought the fact they incorporated it into the story like they did was a big plus point.

Beetle Baby

This felt like vintage Tim Burton. Its fair to say that Burton hasn't quite been on the sort of form that he was on in the 1980's and 1990's but he is back in this film and the peak of this is the Beetle baby (not sure what the correct term would be). It's genuinely a creepy baby and the way its introduced into the story is nightmare fuel. The return at the end was unexpected and also reminded me of how creepy the doll was. The unexpectedness along with the appearance works to make it just as effective.

Bob

R.I.P Bob. I was quite sad when Bob has his souled sucked away. Despite not having any words, he is a likeable character and I wish he would have survived to the end.

THE BAD POINTS

Some plot strands didn't work

So there was the Astrid falls for Jeremy and there is his plan to use Astrid's soul so that he can get back to the living after killing his parents and slipping which led to his death. This plot end abruptly like it didn't really matter. There was the Delores plot strand which whilst it did seem the most important because it featured in the trailers. There was Beetlejuice trying to marry Lydia again and Lydia trying to rescue Astrid before she boards the soul train. A lot going on and it could have been cleaned up a bit. Maybe just having Lydia trying to rescue Astrid would have been the best singular plot.

Pace slowed a bit

There was a part in the middle for about 10 minutes or so where I felt the film wasn't working for me and it was just because it felt like it was plodding a little bit. My mind did wonder a little bit but thankfully it wasn't too long before my attention returned to the film.

Film sort of ends.

Perhaps my biggest issue with the film is that the film sort of just ends. After Beetlejuice is defeated there is a rushed montage of events where Lydia and Astrid go travelling, Astrid falls for some guy playing Dracula and then has a baby which turns out to a fake out and then the credits start. The previous one has a upbeat clear cut ending, this ending suggests that there could be another one. I think that the film would have been better had they come up with a clear cut ending.

OVERALL

I was so happy when this film turned out to be as good as I hoped. I tried to keep my expectations in check but when Beetlejuice is one of your favourite films then its hard to keep expectations at a reasonable level. The film delivers something that might be tipping over to nostalgia but I don't care. I think that despite the few minor flaws with the film, this is a very good Tim Burton film and I hope there aren't any more because I am not sure that they could get away with it.

RATING - 4 out of 5