The movie “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” a long-imagined follow-up to director Tim Burton’s 1988 movie, released Sept. 6 and features an eccentric, energetic and hyper-stylized sequel.
Allegedly being under way for decades, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” would only be produced if Michael Keaton returned to reprise his role as the devious and cunning role of Beetlejuice, the main antagonist. Additionally, the film was required to remain faithful to the style of the first movie, as said by Burton himself.
Keaton wasn’t the only one to return. Actress Winona Ryder plays the now-adult Lydia Deetz who has become a TV personality in the haunting show “Ghost House” as a “psychic mediator.” Although she maintains the same appearance, we see shifts in Lydia’s character. Ryder rocks the same Bauhaus-groupie haircut and Victorian doll wardrobe, but now, as the Guardian writer Wendy Ide describes her, she is “a shadow of her spiky former self.” Burton introduces a new love interest, Rory, who provides a “human villain foil to Michael Keaton’s mischievous ghost,” according to Screenrant writer Jordan Williams.
Original fans of Lydia should not fret, as her rebellious teenage tendencies were passed on to her daughter Astrid, played by “Wednesday” actress Jenna Ortega. The whole family returns to the old, generational house where “Beetlejuice” first took place. More fun additions to the film include Monica Bellucci’s role as Beetlejuice’s ex-wife, who pulls herself back together to reclaim him as her spouse, as well as actor Willem Dafoe’s role as a deceased cop who investigates rule violations of the dead.
Composer Danny Elfman also makes a musical return from the first movie, making a subsequent contribution to a frenzied, spooky atmosphere.
“The original will always be the original, but Tim Burton did an amazing job with not destroying the legacy of Beetlejuice with this one,” film reviewer Anthony Danilovich said in a five-star review of the film.
Overall, the film is fun and maximalist in its gothic design, perfectly carved out to be a comedic horror movie. It features a full and well-rounded plot, functioning as a continuation that compliments the first movie. Tim Burton’s carefully-crafted sequel will definitely be remembered for its spooky charm, perfect for the fall season.
The original “Beetlejuice,” 36 years old now, helped Tim Burton establish himself as a director with a unique vision. His design has only grown more enhanced with today’s advanced CGI. He does, however, return to classic claymations that cleverly tell characters’ backstories. “With Beetlejuice in 1988 came the first full reveal of the Burton sensibility, a set of aesthetic and thematic preferences that landed at the time as original, irreverent, and fresh: neo-gothic fashion, macabre black humor, and an almost Expressionist sense of production design,” Slate writer Dana Stevens said. (Graphic/Alina Sukhovskaya)
