What’s It About
Beetlejuice is back! After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
After thirty-six long years, the mischievous spirit is back on the loose. Tim Burton returns, inviting audiences to dive into a sensory spectacle rather than overanalyze the plot’s intricacies. If you’re willing to embrace the chaotic swirl of visuals, there’s plenty to relish. However, attempting to make sense of the tangled web of plotlines and characters and figuring out where they are at any given moment will leave you with a dizzying headache. The lines between the real and the fantastical blur into a dizzying mess, but this disorienting haze is part of the film’s offbeat charm. The familiar faces return to the screen, including Charles Deetz, portrayed once again by Jeffrey Jones. Jones’s 2003 conviction for soliciting a minor adds an uncomfortable layer to his appearance, especially as his character’s death is humorously portrayed through stop-motion animation. Charles reappears as a headless ghost for the remainder of the movie, reinforcing the film’s delightfully macabre tone. The Deetz family, still quirky as ever, is at the forefront. Lydia, played by the incomparable Winona Ryder, returns alongside her eccentric stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and her daughter Astrid, portrayed by Jenna Ortega. Astrid mirrors her mother’s gloomy, goth sensibilities but adds her twist of modern-day social justice angst. Joining the chaos is Justin Theroux as Rory, Lydia’s aloof boyfriend, and Danny DeVito as a lowly janitor with a penchant for mischief. Astrid’s budding romance with a brooding boy named Jeremy, an introspective fellow who loves Dostoevsky, adds a layer of teen drama to the already tangled plot. The underworld, too, has its share of bizarre figures. In a wonderfully exaggerated role, Willem Dafoe plays an underworld law enforcement chief. Having been an actor in life on a popular detective show, Dafoe’s character hilariously continues his detective work in the ghost realm, leaning into a deliciously hammy performance that steals every scene. One of the more intriguing additions is Monica Bellucci as Dolores, Beetlejuice’s vengeful ex-wife. A soul-sucking ghoul with an insatiable thirst for revenge, Dolores is introduced in a spectacularly grotesque scene set to the Bee Gees’ “Tragedy.” With the help of a staple gun, she reassembles her dismembered body parts, ready to exact her vengeance. Her entrance sets the tone for the film’s unapologetically outlandish approach, pushing the boundaries of its absurdity. As for Beetlejuice himself, this time around, he’s given a much larger slice of screen time. Unlike the original film, which used him sparingly to great effect, Burton lets him loose in all his chaotic glory. Michael Keaton’s performance remains as wild, inappropriate, and unhinged as ever, transforming the character from a villainous trickster into a more complex anti-hero. He’s still the inappropriate, crude, and slightly pervy figure we remember. Still, his antics align with modern-day anti-heroes—characters we root for even when we shouldn’t. The grotesque slapstick and gonzo humor that defined the original film remains. Still, they’re dialed up to a whole new level in this sequel, embracing a maximalist style that is both visually stunning and narratively chaotic. Lydia’s storyline is equally engaging, as she now hosts a paranormal reality TV show, using her psychic abilities to connect the living with the dead. Yet, ironically, she’s unable to contact her late husband, Richard (Santiago Cabrera), who mysteriously vanished on an expedition to the Amazon. This void creates tension with her daughter Astrid, who views Lydia as delusional and disconnected from reality. Their strained relationship is the film’s emotional core, even as the wild antics swirl around them. When a family death brings Lydia, Astrid, and Delia back to their old Winter River, Connecticut, home, the stage is set for Astrid’s journey. She finds herself intrigued by Jeremy, a fellow misfit, after an accidental run-in—literally—when she crashes her bike through his family’s fence. Meanwhile, Beetlejuice, still confined to the Afterlife, hasn’t given up on Lydia, his one-time fiancée. However, he’s got his problems, constantly evading Dolores’s wrath as she seeks to reclaim what she believes is hers. The film becomes an organized chaos with all these characters and plotlines whirling. The narrative zigzags in a hundred directions, yet it never loses its sense of fun. While some plot threads may feel unnecessary or overly ambitious, they all contribute to the film’s frenetic energy. Ultimately, the film triumphs not because of its cohesive story but because of its commitment to absurdity, humor, and Burton’s unmistakable visual flair.
OUR RATING – A SANDWORM 7
MEDIA
- Genre – Comedy
- Street date
- Digital – October 8, 2024
- 4K/Blu-Ray/DVD – November 19, 2024
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 1.85:1
- Sound – English Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital French, Spanish
- Subtitles –English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras
- Audio commentary with Tim Burton
- The Juice is Loose: The Making of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (HD 27:37)
- The Ghost with the Most: Beetlejuice Returns (HD 8:34)
- Meet the Deetz (HD 6:52)
- Shrinkers, Shrinkers Everywhere! (HD 6:26)
- An Animated Afterlife: The Stop-Motion Art of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (HD 9:14)
- The Handbook for the Recently Deceased (HD 12:07)
- ‘Til Death Do We Park: Beetlejuice and Lydia’s First Dance (HD 7:54)