Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 45 minutes, Director – Tim Burton

Whilst being hunted by his ex-wife (Monica Bellucci), Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) is summoned by Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) after her teenage daughter (Jenna Ortega) becomes trapped in the afterlife.

Michael Keaton’s 600-year-dead bio-exorcist only appears on-screen in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice for around 17 minutes. Yet, he’s one of the biggest takeaways from the film, despite only largely appearing and interfering in the final stages of the 1988 horror-comedy. While he might have a couple more minutes of screen-time in this long-discussed sequel the (now doubly) titular character gets just about as much to do, and again largely feels mostly used in the ‘remember this?’ throwback details of the climactic stages.

Talk of a Beetlejuice sequel has bubbled for years, pretty much since the release of the original. Multiple storylines have likely been and gone, and it certainly feels like most of the characters from them appear here. While Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin don’t appear – apparently having found a loophole meaning they could leave their home – and Jeffrey Jones’ face is understandably only on gravestones and replicated in animated form to depict his character’s death; his body, missing its top half, occasionally seen wandering around the afterlife, it seems that almost every character possibly featured in previous versions of this film crop up here.

Strands build together with loose links to bring things together in the third act, but overall the narrative beginnings feel jumbled, and occasionally completely forgotten about as focus shifts eventually back to the Deetz family. Lydia (Winona Ryder) is estranged from her teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who doesn’t believe in the paranormal nonsense she tackles on her TV show, Ghost House. However, when Astrid is trapped in the afterlife Lydia must get the help of Beetlejuice, hiding in his office from his revived and stapled-together, soul-sucking ex-wife (Monica Bellucci) who could end his own afterlife. Meanwhile Willem Dafoe runs around as a joke that never takes off, a former Hollywood action star who takes on the role of a cop in the land of the dead chasing after both Keaton and Bellucci.

While it’s nice to see the practical effects and general visual style, particularly in the other-worldly sequences, they often get lost amongst the constantly rebounding nature of the elements trying to construct a plot. There’s certainly something here, but it comes around very late in the day after what feels like an hour of separate build-ups with ideas and sequences dropping off like severed limbs. Once the actual narrative appears to kick in and we properly see the corridors of the afterlife from the Deetz’s perspective the events feel rushed, thin and simply wanting to get to the big finale.

Keaton is on good form and likable playing into the relaxed role, and some of the more enjoyable moments of the film simply involve him leading his team of shrunken-head workers manning the phones of his bio-exorcism business. While brief and largely acting as re-introductions to the characters they’re amongst the most laid back moments. As a whole the film fails to get many laughs, the few that are created are all courtesy of Catherine O’Hara’s returning artist, and step-mother to Lydia, Delia. For the most part the humour feels lacking, either never fully pushed or overfamiliar, and in some cases generally out of place – removing Dafoe’s character from this film would likely do very little to the overall arc. When more relaxed and throwaway the overall tone and effect of the humour is better and things feel smoother.

Yet, with how much is happening, and the amount of different characters in different places (I haven’t even mentioned Justin Theroux as Lydia’s partner Rory) at different times, there’s an almost overstuffed feeling to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Treading along the old while trying to bring in the new from various angles. With this in mind, the film it reminded me most of was fellow legacy sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, although this certainly feels like a more direct (although belated) sequel with less focus on legacy elements, although there are a handful here and there. And while there are glimmers of likable ideas and moments dotted about within Beetlejuice Beetlejuice the full film also gains something of a cold reception.

At its best when more relaxed and allowed a moment to breathe, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is full of frequently dropped characters and strands which rarely manage to conjure a laugh before moving on to further build-up for a rushed time once the narrative properly kicks in.