Confession: I didn’t watch Beetlejuice for the first time until I’d turned 18. I felt indifferent to it and thus didn’t see it as necessary to watch. However, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw when I watched it in my first year of college. Instead of the edgy, grotesque and scare-tastic film I anticipated, I was given a comedic romp that was only dragged down by Winona Ryder’s annoyingly cliche portrayal of gothic culture.
The sequel to a film like Beetlejuice is an almost impossible task. The original has an almost equal percentage rating on Rotten Tomatoes between fans and critics. Audience reviews describe the film as “cute” and “funny.” Many also discuss the superb casting of actors like Alec Baldwin, Michael Keaton, and Wynona Rider. Some also mention Tim Burton’s directing style as worthy of praise. How do you come close to a film like this? One answer is to continue the conversation of accepting death that the first film handles with flair and taste.
Plans for a Beetlejuice sequel began almost immediately after the original proved successful. Two potential scripts were drafted. One focused on Betelgeuse chasing a girl after her lover dies and was to be titled Beetlejuice in Love. The second would’ve seen the Deetz family, of which Lydia belongs, journeying to Hawaii because Charles, Lydia’s father, was developing a resort in the area. Hijinks would’ve ensued when it’s revealed the resort’s location is on the burial ground of an ancient Kahuna. The Kahuna would come back to life, and Betelgeuse would become a hero by cheating his way to victory in… a surfing competition.
Both sequels ended up shelved for differing reasons. The first was dropped when its writer passed weeks after finishing the script, and the second was dropped once it was decided that a story seeing Betelgeuse go tropical wouldn’t have been possible, and Winona Ryder had since aged out of portraying a teenage Lydia. A sequel to Beetlejuice was picked up again in the mid-2010s before being shelved in 2019 by Warner Bros. It finally became a reality once filming began in May of 2023. The film was impacted by the extensive WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes; they pushed back the original production start and production end, respectively.
The film itself was advertised as centering around a throwaway line in the original, wherein Betelgeuse says, “I’m telling you, honey, she meant nothing to me.” while holding a wedding ring on a severed finger. Betelgeuse’s wife, Dolores, was shown as the “main” antagonist in trailers. In reality, her character is grossly underutilized, aside from being an actual ghost following our main characters. The true story of the film sees topics like death, no-contact children, and familial bond be discussed through Lydia Deetz and her relationship with both her stepmother Delia, portrayed again by Catherine O’Hara, and her daughter Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega.
The trailers would lead one to believe this film is centered around Dolores. However, her character ends as she began: a throwaway. Her presence in the film is mostly in early scenes featuring a great usage of the Bee-Gees song “Tragedy.” However, once the story with the Deetz’s picks up steam, she’s left to aimlessly wander the halls. She only comes back at the end for a quick scene that mainly shows off the effects used on the sand worm creatures from the first film. This left me feeling like her role in the story was unnecessary as other aspects of the film can be used to explain why Betelgeuse still wants Lydia other than him fleeing from his ex-wife.
The film also has the tricky situation of keeping in a character whose actor’s real-life crime led to him being blacklisted. Charles Deetz, Lydia’s father, is depicted as killed off and searching for Delia throughout the film in various comedic scenes. This was done as a result of Jeffrey Jones, Charles’ original actor, being arrested in 2002 for possession of illicit material featuring minors. Burton’s choice to keep Charles was due to his being an integral part of the story of the first film. As stated, he’s only used for comedic purposes, and his appearance in the afterlife is as comedic and over the top as one can expect from Burton.
There were also interesting cameos, such as Willem Dafoe’s portrayal of Wolf Jackson, a deceased B-movie star whose “skills” led to him becoming an afterlife police officer. Another comes from Danny DeVito, which leads to chuckles as he’s used as an example of Dolores’ powers as she stitches herself up.
Finally, Michael Keaton returns as the ghost with the most, Betelgeuse. Keaton always left his schedule open for a sequel film and was ecstatic to return for it. His portrayal here is as raunchy, tone-deaf, and hilarious as the original. Betelgeuse’s goals here are the same as the first film: marry Lydia.
As a sequel to the original, this film has many things to praise, such as the practical effects, the way Burton keeps the original’s zaniness up, and how they managed to shift the story from coming to grips with life and death to dealing with a death in the family in our own, unique ways. However, this film isn’t without faults. The underused Dolores feels less like a villain and more like a side character. The overcrowding of new characters who feel underdeveloped and only used for comedic effects or single-scene gags detracts from the serious topic it could tackle. Finally, the speed and utter confusion of the ending led me to feel both positive and negative emotions toward this go-around in the underworld.
It’s already been all but confirmed there will not be a third, with Keaton admitting that if the third took as long as this one to make, he’d be over 100 years old. However, much like the first, I believe this film will be held onto dearly for years to come. With how beloved the film already seems to be, it’s going to be hard to get Beetlejuice Beetlejuice out of the minds of many fans for years to come. Overall, I’d rank Beetlejuice Beetlejuice an 8.5/10.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is currently available for purchase via VOD platforms like Amazon Prime Video and will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 19, 2024.
