Films for Breakfast

After nearly a decade of your family sharing fake posters for it on Facebook and Tim Burton and Michael Keaton being asked about it during every press junket they attend, we finally have Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – a sequel to the classic film that many would argue is both Keaton and Burton’s finest hour. This sequel picks up over thirty years after the original film, with Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) returning to Winter River with her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) after a family tragedy. After all these years, Lydia’s life is turned upside down once again when Astrid finds a mysterious portal to the afterlife that puts her in grave danger and forces Lydia to cross paths with the one and only Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).

Sequels of any kind can be immensely tricky to pull off, but when you have a film as beloved as the original Beetlejuice, there is an even bigger pressure to not mess it up amongst the very fans who have been clamoring for it for all these years. Luckily, in the case of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, it feels like almost no time has passed at all – despite the 36-year gap between the original and the sequel. Burton hasn’t exactly been on a hot streak lately with his direction, but this sequel weirdly feels like a breath of fresh air that takes him back to basics with a heavy reliance on practical effects and massive, gorgeous sets; this reliance of practicality immediately gives this sequel an old-school, “They don’t make them like this anymore” kind-of vibe that I find a bit irresistible.

The main draw for a Beetlejuice sequel will always be the returning cast, and luckily, they haven’t missed a beat either. The character of Lydia Deetz has become as equally popular as Beetlejuice over the years, and Winona Ryder does a great job at returning to the character. A big thing I appreciate about the films approach to the character is that it doesn’t try to glorify her as a pop culture icon, but instead finds her at a bit of a low point in her life that feels honest about what may have happened to her after all these years. Catherine O’Hara as Delia is simply remarkable here, giving an even better performance than before with impeccable comedic timing. Even newcomers like Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and of course Willem Dafoe fit seamlessly into this world.

It wouldn’t be a Beetlejuice review if I didn’t talk about the man of the hour himself. Michael Keaton has been as active as ever as a performer, so I wasn’t necessarily worried about how good he would be here; but even with that being said, I wasn’t prepared for how delighted I’d be the second he appears on-screen as Beetlejuice again. It genuinely feels like no time has passed with him and that he has been waiting to do this again since the first film wrapped filming. Keaton’s commitment to the character and his deadpan comedic delivery is some of the best work you’ll ever see, and a large portion of this film is simply a showcase for how brilliant his performance is.

However, despite Keaton’s performance being so great, I also appreciate how the film doesn’t overuse him either. One of the most shocking things to me when I saw Beetlejuice for the first time after years of experiencing the pop culture references is how little the titular character is actually in it. When he shows up, it’s like dynamite – but it focuses entirely on the story of the Maitland and Deetz families with Beetlejuice as a firm supporting character. While there are some extra minutes of screentime for Beetlejuice here, the film never feels like it capitalizes too heavily on him and only calls upon him when the story requires it. The focal point of the film is still about the Deetz family, and I find that to be really endearing and admirable as it paves way for a story about grief and connection that I found quite effective.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice might feel a bit overstuffed in certain sections and it does loose a bit of the simplicity that makes the original such a Halloween classic, but I also don’t know how you can craft a Beetlejuice sequel without losing the lightning in a bottle element that the first film had. Burton and crew clearly felt a tremendous pressure to get this right, and it’s felt within each and every frame here. This is a wonderful sequel that doubles down on the best elements of the original film while daring to tell a new story that doesn’t feel derivative to what came before. As a fan of the original myself, it’s hard to imagine a 2024 Beetlejuice sequel being any better than this.

4/5