Disclaimer: This review is based primarily on my memory of seeing the movie in theaters, so forgive me if it comes off a bit short.
This is a movie that's new in theaters so I'm going to try to make this as spoiler-free as possible.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) is a dark fantasy gothic horror comedy directed by Tim Burton that serves as a sequel to the cult classic Beetlejuice (1988). It stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O' Hara, who reprise their roles from the first film, as well as new cast members like Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe. It also features Danny Devito in a brief cameo role.
It's set years after the first movie and follows our protagonist Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) who's now older and works as a talk show host for the supernatural talk show Ghost House. While filming the show Lydia is haunted by visions of the evil entity Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) who haunted her and her family's house years prior. Lydia got the news from her stepmom that her dad died tragically and then tries to reconnect with her estranged teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega). After the funeral, Lydia’s boyfriend and producer Rory proses to her and she agrees while not being entirely on board. Meanwhile, in the nether realm, there's an evil soul sucker named Dolores who’s been awakened and hunts down Betelgeuse.
Dolores was Betelgeuse’s ex-fiancée whom he turned down, and now she’s looking for payback. Dolores is shown to be a much greater threat than Betelgeuse himself, so she’s the main antagonist. Astrid meets a guy who appears to be nice but also has sinister intentions and kidnaps her. Lydia hears word about this and is left to summon Betelgeuse to help save her. Betelgeuse agrees in return that they get married (just like in the first movie) and that she helps take care of his problem with Dolores. That’s about the gist of it without giving too much away.
I went and saw the movie in theaters, and I really enjoyed it. It's very entertaining, funny and scary, and features a very interesting expansion of the world building that was established in the first movie, as well as some nice call backs. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder have still got it in the leading roles. I like that Betelgeuse himself serves as an antihero for the majority of the movie (while in the first movie, he was the main villain), so that was interesting. I'll say though, the story was a bit all over the place as there were a couple of plot holes that hardly went anywhere.
Like for instance, the part where Astrid gets kidnapped gets resolved pretty quickly and after that she’s just along for the ride. Also, there’s the plot hole with Willem Dafoe’s character, which “kind of” ties in with the main plot. Even the main conflict with the soul sucker is a plot hole within itself. I also thought the lip-syncing gag was a little cheesy (the first one also had a lip-syncing gag, but here it dragged on for a bit longer than it should’ve). There’s this one part (minor spoiler but nothing crucial to the plot) where Betelgeuse is lip syncing to a piano ballad, while holding a guitar. It doesn’t really make any sense on the count of it being a piano ballad with no guitar playing. Like, why was the guitar even there?
Overall, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) was quite good. I thought the original Beetlejuice (1988) was better, but this was still a pretty solid follow-up. If you're a fan of Tim Burton and/or the original Beetlejuice, I'd say check this one out.
I give Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) a solid 8/10.
So, have you seen Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did you think it was okay? Let me know in the comments.
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As I post this, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) is currently playing exclusively in movie theaters.
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