Year of Release: 2024
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Danny DeVito, Arthur Conti, Burn Gorman, Amy Nuttall, Sami Slimane, Liv Spencer
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review
Director Tim Burton is back, tackling one of his most famous characters, following the huge hit that was the Netflix show "Wednesday", which revitalized his creative energies. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice" reintroduces us to the characters from the first film, with Lydia Deetz now a grown woman with a TV Show of her own where she addresses the supernatural, also dealing with an estranged daughter who resents her, whereas her stepmom continues to dazzle in the art world. Lydia's father, Charles, dies, forcing her to go back to her teenage house where all the events with the Maitlands and Beetlejuice occurred. Her agent/producer Rory accompanies them, and while the service for Charles is taking place, proposes to Lydia. Astrid in the meantime wanders around the small town and meets a young man by the name of Jeremy, who entices her. In the world of the dead, Beetlejuice finds himself in a tough situation when his late wife comes in his pursuit, destroying the souls of the dead in her path. When Jeremy turns out to be more than he led Astrid to believe, Lydia has to resort to Beetlejuice in order to save her from a rough situation.
Tackling an iconic film such as "Beetlejuice" was always going to be a tall order. Since premiering in 1988, the film has become this unique property in Tim Burton's career, one where there's a touch of his sensibility in the fact that it tackles a marginalized character, contrasting with the apparent normalcy of a family that joins the narrative, all the while also having a very distinct visual flair. The original "Beetlejuice" also featured one of the most interesting anti-heroes that has appeared in a Tim Burton film, in the sense that Beetlejuice himself is self-serving, crazed, and also very funny character. Capturing that energy once again in a sequel was always going to be a challenge, and the question was even, did this film really need to exist. As it stands, there's quite a few interesting threads to this film, namely the narrative surrounding Lydia, Delia, and Astrid, all of whom deserve a film of their own, whereas the connection with the world of the deceased doesn't feel as well established and organically connected as it did in the first film (the Maitlands were that connection, and it all stemmed from their need/want of getting rid of the family who had taken over their home). The writers populate this narrative with a series of supporting characters all of which end up detracting from the core of the main ones, namely Lydia, Delia, and Astrid, and they do so without giving these sub-plots enough dimension to make them compelling and nothing more than anecdotes. In the end there's much to love here, particularly the relationships between Beetlejuice and Lydia and the latter with Delia, the same going for revisiting some of the stylistic choices that are adopted, but these characters definitely deserved a better script. The cast is uniformly solid, particularly the always fantastic Michael Keaton, the wonderful Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara, with Willem Dafoe bringing his charm to barely there character. The production team is solid, with highlights going to Colleen Atwood's costumes, Danny Elfman's iconic score, though Haris Zambarloukos cinematography is too dark and grayish, making the film look a bit too murky at times (and Bo Welch is a visual consultant on this film, not the production designer as was the case in the original film). It's watchable, and there's much to enjoy, but one can't help but wish for a better script for everyone involved in this project.
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