Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a 2024 fantasy horror comedy film from Warner Bros. Studios. Directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’ Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, and Monica Bellucci. This film obviously serves as the follow up to the 1988 Burton film ‘Beetlejuice’ and gets a lot of the notable cast back including Winona Ryder, Catherine O’ Hara, and of course Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice. Jenna Ortega is this generation’s Winona in a lot of ways and gets a lot of similar roles that a young Winona once did, so she melded perfectly into this kind of movie and a modern Beetlejuice movie just makes sense with Jenna Ortega in 2024. This was a great kick of nostalgia and an awesome fall feeling kind of movie, perfect lighthearted spooky season flick for the whole family. Not to say there wasn’t any gore, spooky visual elements, or offbeat and risqué humor that could be a bit much for some kiddos, but it was all played in a fun and funny manner, and nothing was meant to downright shock or disgust, much like the first Beetlejuice. The ability of Michael Keaton to seemingly effortlessly fall back into the character of Beetlejuice 35 years later is truly impressive, and the same can be said for Catherine O’ Hara as well as Delia Deets who may have been my favorite overall performance from the film. Winona Ryder was great in her role as always as well, but Lydia was much different in this movie than the first one and that was a little off putting to me as a viewer. To see her as an adult who has a struggling relationship with her daughter, anxiety issues, and in a love smothering toxic relationship is not necessarily the life that I imagined for Lydia when we left her in the first. But then again that is life, unexpected, so maybe they actually wrote her perfectly. Just all in the way you want to view it.
This movie was packed to the gills with story as well, almost too much it felt like at times, but everything was pretty easy to keep up with for the most part. I can understand why they did that though in ways, the first film is kind of simple and slow even at times compared to modern standards and for most modern attention spans, so they went the opposite route here and filled this movie with substance and made sure every character had something important to do and a story of their own. That’s usually a good thing too and it was for the most part here, but it felt like some of the sub-stories like Jenna Ortega’s relationship with the ghost boy Jeremy, and Beetlejuice and Delores’ story in particular were kind of rushed through or ended in a lackluster manner to save for time and keep the story moving forward at a decent pace. I love how every Tim Burton movie has its own vibe and style as a Tim Burton movie as well and this one was absolutely no different, I’d go even further and say they perfectly recapture the vibe of ‘Beetlejuice’ and the setting and feeling of that world. The use of practical effects in this are amazing and something I always love to see in modern movies and really helped the vibe feel like the original movie’s from the sandworms to Beetlejuice’s powers and effects, to everything in between the practical effects really brought the magic to life here. Monica Bellucci as Delores was a cool, badass chick kind of villain and I really enjoyed her introduction to this movie, but the character felt like she was lacking some substance and lost a little steam each time she appeared on screen until her rather lackluster departure, not to say she’s done for good if they do happen to make a third film in the franchise, but for now.
Overall, I’d say this movie is worth the time and the watch, especially for fans of the original and especially during the spooky season vibes. The combo of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman rarely miss for me and the whimsical, dark, macabre, magical worlds they create together for us as an audience is truly something special to me as they are their completely own vibe. Is it better than the first one to me? Geez, that’s a tough question and one I don’t think I can really answer until I see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at least a couple more times but I do think it was a great sequel film, which is really saying something since this was a sequel like 35 years in the making after the original. I’ve always enjoyed Beetlejuice and saw it many times growing up and as an adult as it’s just one of those iconic spooky season movies that is circulated constantly every October, but it’s also never been one of my very favorite Tim Burton movies either, so I think for me personally this film could be just as good if not better than the original. But the 1988 film is just such a classic that it’s hard to really say that after 1 viewing and not feel film nerds’ heads spinning and smoking from that take. I will say this new movie wouldn’t be as good as it is without seeing the first film though, so really it needs the classic to function properly. I’d certainly recommend though as I think most people of all ages at the very least could have fun with a movie like this and it really helps get you into the vibe of the season. I was ready to go to Spirit Halloween and look at decorations and animatronics after watching this even though my place is already decked out, so that says something. In closing I’ll leave you with this…Justice for Bob!
