Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Michael Keaton is the hardest-working spirit in the afterlife

2024-09-07 16:30:02

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024 | USA | Tim Burton | 105 minutes)

I was nine years old when Tim Burton’s beloved ghost-comedy Beetlejuice movie came out. Now I’ve gotten fat and most of my hair is gray. I wasn’t exactly holding my breath for a sequel but it always felt inevitable because no popular piece of IP really remains dormant for more than thirty-five years when milking every ounce of Gen-X nostalgia has proven so lucrative over the past decade or so. This is particularly odd when you only need to say the antihero’s name thrice for him to appear. (There was that musical where insane Congresswoman Lauren Boebert was kicked out of the theater for vaping and giving her boyfriend a handski, but let’s never mention that again, you sicko.)

While films like this involuntarily summon the cynic inside of me (my 23andme results say that I’m 74% crank), the audience at the preview I went to was psyched in ways I hadn’t expected. Many were dressed in full steampunk attire and I don’t think I’ve ever been in a crowd that cheered the composer’s name in the opening credits.

As a film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn’t bad – some parts are quite good (particularly when they involve Michael Keaton, who lost zero percent of his enthusiasm and zaniness since the first Beetlejuice film). It just felt unnecessary with many (many!) more moving parts than it needed.

Save for Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, most of the cast came back for part deux. Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton all reprise their roles and Tim Burton is back to direct and Danny Elfman (he of the composer’s applause) again provides the music. Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, and spooky it-girl (Cousin Itt-girl?) Jenna Ortega as the Deetz family’s youngest Astrid fill out the main cast.

Michael Keaton, as I mentioned above, is a gas. He’s as manic as he’s ever been and supplies 90% of the movie’s fun. Winona Ryder is back as Lydia Deetz but she’s grown up and now hosts a TV show as a medium called “Ghost House.” Justin Theroux is Rory, Lydia’s manager and fiancé who seems to have malevolent intentions. Monica Bellucci is Delores, an ex who is determined to kill the undead title character as revenge. Her murderous ways involve sucking out a person or apparition’s soul. When it’s time, and not a moment sooner, it’s 100% how I want to go out.

I don’t think I fully understand what Willem Dafoe is doing here. Something about a ghost-hunting detective who used to be a movie star when he was alive. He does bring another famous name to the cast and a few funny bits, so there’s that.

Much of the film is very impressive. I loved the expansive world-building Burton and his team put together. There were some cool visual effects and some running gags that were quite funny. I laughed hard whenever the late Charles Deetz was on screen. I also really liked the storyline between Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega. Still, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice throws a lot of proverbial spaghetti at the proverbial wall and quite a bit of it sticks because a lot of it was thrown. If I was still a music blogger, I might call it “extremely busy.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun experience overall. While I can be misanthropic when my nostalgia gets trampled by naked capitalism, this movie – and Michael Keaton especially – does work very hard to earn those wistful Gen-X dollars.

Rating: 3 out of 5.