*Courtesy Of Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros.*

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

Tim Burton’s long awaited sequel ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ has arrived.

Synopsis: Three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life soon gets turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter discovers a mysterious portal to the afterlife. When someone says Beetlejuice's name three times, the mischievous demon gleefully returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ (2024) is directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay penned by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. The film stars Jenna Ortega as the daughter of Lydia Deetz, with Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Katherine O'Hara all returning to their original roles.

The film currently sits at 78% on Rotten Tomatoes by critics.

Let’s dive in:

If there’s something to truly admire about ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ it’s that Tim Burton manages to throw everyone back to 1988 as he recaptures the magic, wit, and charm of the first feature ‘Beetlejuice.’ In an era of prequels, sequels, and remakes: that’s rare.

Burton gets highly courageous and bold with his work in the film; giving us fantastic (and surprising) set pieces that are either slightly off-beat or utilizing extreme juxtaposition. By doing so, he manages the accomplish the gothic horror-comedy elements from the height of his career in the late 1980s. The scene that makes it work right off the bat involves Monica Bellucci’s character Delores, a ghost who’s body has been chopped into several pieces and laying in different boxes. And to the tune of ‘Tragedy’ by the Bee Gees, Delores pulls herself together, stapling her body as her limbs rejoin.

There’s a lot of fan service with this sequel, with some fun callbacks to the original and others feeling slightly forced. This also happens with a majority of our characters, as they’re introduced as quickly as possible to keep the runtime below 2 hours. Though the characters could feel a bit stale in the beginning, the story unfolds well enough to allow their arcs to flourish and fully flesh out their purposes.

Ryder’s iconic character Lydia Deetz continues her familiar style from the 80s, and now a widowed mother turned famous for hosting a reality show titled ‘Ghost House.’ Lydia also has a rough relationship with her teenage daughter, Astrid (portrayed by Jenna Ortega), who resents her mother and prefers spending a majority of her time with the dead, while finding it difficult to talk about her late father Richard (Santiago Cabrera).

Throughout the film, Lydia and Astrid are forced to grow alongside each other, melding their torn relationship at the stakes of taking down something far more sinister.

Ortega, much like Ryder, is casted to perfection in a role that feels like an extension of her own real-life personality. Much like Ortega’s hit show ‘Wednesday’ (Netflix), she plays a cold, stoic, and spiteful character that knows how to provoke and push all the right buttons — and some of the wrong ones too.

Willem Dafoe joins the cast this time around as Wolf Jackson; a ghost detective who used to be an action movie star when he was alive. Dafoe offers plenty of enthusiasm and laughs, and we can’t help but want to see more of him every time he’s on screen.

Michael Keaton once again is flawless in this role, managing to reel himself back to 1988 as he unlocks the Beetlejuice we all know and love with manic-hilarity. He elevates the film ten-fold, and appears to have not aged a day.

The film certainly falters at the writing stage, with the screenplay offering the actors plenty to do but not all of it seems cathartic or deserved. Why did that character just do that thing? Oh, because it happened in the original so I guess it needed to happen in this one!

At least we have Danny Elfman coming to the rescue with his off-beat and quirky original score with a few really great new tracks.

The films works overall, but struggles to reach its full potential by focusing on cheap callbacks to the much better original feature. However, the magic of the franchise still remains strong.

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ releases on September 6, 2024.

Our score: ★★★
(out of 5 stars)