In complete confidence Beetlejuice Beetlejuice would be another trainwreck to Tim Burton’s crumbling legacy, I had drafted this review to be a merciless critique of the sequel and an obituary to Burton’s career. And yet, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised, and even, dare I say it, enjoyed it just as much as the first. Thirty-five years after the release of the original, Beetlejuice 2 has brought a symphony of erratic comedy, astounding performances, and visual expressionism as entertainingly amalgamated as its predecessor.
Logically I can only begin by crediting the timeless performance of Michael Keaton as the titular character. Reentering the Deetz family home with his legendary jittery energy and stand-up-style comedy, Keaton’s return to the role has been celebrated by critics and sentimental fans everywhere. If anything, the absence of hypersexual aspirations of marriage towards an underage Lydia Deetz has, surprise surprise, made Beetlejuice a more admirable character. While he’s arguably leaned into a protagonist role to allow new antagonists to emerge, Keaton’s performance as the deviously grotesque demon is as witty and gratifying as you ever could have hoped for from a high-risk sequel.
The Return of Practical Special Effects?
Perhaps the greatest surprise from the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was Burton’s loyalty to the original’s 1988 visual effects. Instead of plastering his screen in CGI, the director’s sequel fuses stop-motion sandworms, miniature models, practical effects, and randomly stylised animation sequences that ultimately, while discombobulating, only accentuate the rich madness of the Beetlejuice storylines. As a devoted admirer of my favourite director’s German-expressionist visuals, I was astonishingly thankful to find a film abundant in colour, depth and crooked atypical structures. The sequel’s parallel approaches to ‘aged’ visuals ensure that, despite the transition to modern screen definition, both films feel like a harmony of decades.
A… Successful Sequel?
While Beetlejuice 2 has thoughtfully resurrected some of the original’s best attributes, I cannot in good conscience give it the all-clear of sequelitis. Aside from featuring almost the entire original cast, Burton introduces none other than his wife and soul sucker Delores, played by Monica Bellucci (who you could assume to be the main villain?), alongside rising star Jenna Ortega, playing a – you guessed it! – watered-down Wednesday Addams. The list goes on, with the likes of Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti, Danny DeVito, and Santiago Cabrera cementing their place in the Beetlejuice universe. And did I mention Willem Dafoe? As a result of this extensive cast of Hollywood superstars, the sequel suffers from a spiraling tangle of subplots that ultimately lead nowhere. Remove any one of them, and you’re more or less left with the same finale.
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Still, if there’s any film to draw an utterly mad upheaval of deranged elements and make it work, it’s Beetlejuice. Like the unexplainable narrative of your most bizarre dreams, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has proved itself outrageously entertaining. Where the world expected an over-budgeted nostalgia cash grab, Tim Burton has miraculously assumed his legacy, allowing the child within us to rejoice once more.