“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”: Wonderful Sequel or Cash Grab Taking Advantage of Nostalgia?

As a long time fan of the original “Beetlejuice” film, this journalist felt they had no choice but to give the sequel a chance. Entering the theater for the early access showing on Sept. 4, popcorn and soda in hand, the fear that this was about to destroy the over decade-long devotion to the “Beetlejuice” fandom was intense.

To quickly summarize the film before getting to the potential spoiler filled review, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” picks back up with the Deetz family 30 years after the insane events of the previous film. After a sudden tragedy, the family returns to Lydia’s childhood home in Winter River, Connecticut. Lydia is still haunted by the demon Beetlejuice, and chaos ensues when her daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens a portal to the afterlife.

*Warning: possible spoilers ahead*

First, it must be said, the film was well done, especially considering how many of the original cast participated. The returning characters also maintain their weird and wacky behaviors from the original film which is appreciated greatly. The writers could have easily tried to make claims that time changed them, but these characters are too well loved and iconically odd to make huge changes to.

Special applause must be given to Catherine O’Hara, who plays Lydia’s stepmother, Delia. Her character has truly not changed at all, and no surprise, is still aggressively pursuing her uniquely different art that was so memorable in the first film.

The rest of the star studded cast did great, including Winona Ryder, Micheal Keaton, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, and Danny DeVito.

However, I will point out that despite Lydia Deetz maintaining her oddity, there were points where it felt more like Winona Ryder on screen than her character, which can pull you out of the story. That’s coming from a major fan of Winona Ryder and all her work over the years, and with the acknowledgement that playing a character that you first played as a 15 year old must be extremely challenging to do.

The call backs to the original film were delightful, when done in the right way. “Day-o (The Banana Boat Song)” making an appearance in the film during the completely inappropriate time of a funeral is precisely the tone and vibe the first movie had. On the other hand, some of the breaking of the fourth wall done by Beetlejuice was a little much, and felt more like a clip from The Office than the top tier level comedy I expect from Micheal Keaton’s beloved character.

Unfortunately, it seems like the film comes with the very misplaced assumption that all viewers already love these characters and didn’t take into consideration that establishing what has happened since as well as proper development of new characters still matters. They may have bit off more than they could chew when it came to the number of new characters and number of plotlines happening at once for a film that was only an hour and 44 minutes long.

The other main criticism is that what a lot of people loved about the first Beetlejuice was that it was so creatively done when it came to the special effects. In the 1988 movie, a large portion of effects were all practically done. Yet, in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice the film relies far too much on CGI, to the point where certain scenes felt goofy.

One scene where the legendary sandworm reappears, I almost gasped at how much worse it looked despite it being close to 40 years later. Many have the same criticism of new movies in general, they lack authenticity and realism because rather than using the creative practical effects used by filmmakers in the past, they lean heavily on CGI, believing it to be superior when clearly viewers disagree.

However, all that said, as a long-time fan and lover of the original film, I wasn’t disappointed, nor do I feel my love has been tainted, only reignited. I will 100% be rewatching the old film soon, and perhaps be dusting off my old Lydia Deetz costume for this upcoming Halloween.