Beetlejuice Beetlejuice review: So good it rivals Tim Burton’s classic

There is a lingering sense of dread whenever a director announces a sequel to a beloved classic decades after its original release. Why risk a film’s legacy with a lukewarm follow-up doomed not to live up to the original? Thankfully, Tim Burton proves skeptics wrong with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Thirty-six years after first putting on a black and white striped suit to terrorize the Deetz family, Michael Keaton returns to one of his most iconic roles in a story that finds him crossing paths with the Deetz once more. 

In the present, Lydia (Winona Ryder) is a TV personality profiting off her supernatural abilities with the eager help of manager/boyfriend Roy (Justin Theroux). Such success comes at the expense of time spent with her family, eccentric artist stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and rebellious teen daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega).

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice reunites the Keetz family via the death of the family patriarch, Charles (originally played by Jeffrey Jones but brought back here through a mix of animation and clever character design best unspoiled.)

With the clan back together, it is only a matter of time until the trickster demon pays them a visit, and Burton reintroduces Keaton’s character through a storyline that feels fresh enough to keep the film’s pace without sacrificing the hefty dose of nostalgia sure to attract converted fans. 

Beetlejuice 2 is filled with amazing characters

Warner Bros.

A handful of amusing side characters join the returning cast, giving dramatic actors like Theroux and Willem Dafoe the chance to exercise their comedic chops. 

While Theroux is a treat as a rattail-donning narcissist whose native language is therapy speak, Dafoe plays a renowned actor who found the role of a lifetime in the afterlife: Wolf Jackson, a detective with a half-blown-up head but thankfully still intact nose to sniff out the baddies in this sleazy underground world. 

Speaking of baddies, it’s Burton’s real-life partner Monica Bellucci who’s charged with playing the film’s big villain, Beetlejuice’s Corpse Bride-esque ex-wife Delores, brought back to life to prove there is no such this as ‘til death do us part.

A sequel that’s more than nostalgia

Warner Bros.

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s script isn’t afraid of over-exposition, be it to handily update the viewer on what happened in the years since we saw these characters last or to flesh out issues of motherhood, guilt and grief that permeate the relationship between three generations of Deetz. 

Centering the women instead of focusing solely on the titular fiend is a bet that pays off, with Ortega’s character catering to younger audiences without diluting Beetlejuice’s slapstick humor, which is sure to please those who’ll seek the sequel in search of quenching their thirst for the demon’s signature crassness. 

Perhaps most importantly, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice understands that, without the rich world-building that made the original a classic, any future iterations wouldn’t work. Thirty years of technological advancement may mean the edges are smoother this time around, but Burton isn’t overreliant on digital effects, preserving the story’s impeccable sense of place. 

The result is a fantasy world that still feels tangible despite its shiny graphics, with beautifully designed ghouls and ghosts wandering the narrow corridors of this ludicrous, all-encompassing underworld that makes death sound way more fun than it has any right to be.

Tim Burton is back

Warner Bros.

This marriage between a script unafraid to pander to ‘90s humor and tactile effects unwilling to surrender to the hyperreal aesthetics of modern technology finally lifts Burton out of the creative swamp that engulfed him in the last decade and brings him back to the refreshing, innovative type of fantasy that he is famously known for. 

O’Hara and Ryder’s reunion is just as fruitful as their first screen outing, with the former channeling a chaotic Moira Rose energy into the walking parody that is Delia while the latter plays Lydia with the weariness of adulthood instead of the snarkiness of adolescence.

Such a strong ensemble helps take the pressure off Keaton, a helping hand proven redundant by a lead performance that has one wondering why in the world isn’t the Oscar-nominated actor dousing himself in six layers of heavy make-up and cackling at the undead every year or two. 

Beetlejuice 2 review score: 4/5

Keaton’s return as the one whose name can’t be said thrice perfectly embodies the fun ride that is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel that seems to have been lab-engineered as the blueprint for how to harness nostalgia to create a film that can threaten to surpass its precursor. Skeptics, take a chance on this one. 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits cinemas on September 6. In the meantime, check out other new movies to watch this month and our rundown of the best movies of 2024 so far.