Tim Burton has had a very… interesting run as a director of late. Spending most of his time in The House of Mouse helping to “reimagine” classic tales and characters in his own patented quirky gothic style, Burton has returned to the theatres again to dig up another classic to cover. However, instead of pulling from someone else’s work, he’s finally decided to return to his own well and finally make a sequel to his cult classic off-beat horror flick Beetlejuice with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Unfortunately, while there are some enjoyably creative sequences, fun performances, and interesting choices in making a pro-longed sequel, Burton’s return feels more like a bad concert from a band past its prime but is still able to make a splash playing the classics.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice continues the story of the Deetz family, as they return to their family home after the death of Charles, originally played by Jeffrey Jones (who is and isn’t in the movie. I’ll touch on this later). As Lydia (Winona Ryder), her step-mother Delia (Catherine O’Hara), and Astrid, her daughter (Jenna Ortega) all reunite to morn their loss, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) attempts to spook his way back into the real world whilst being pursued by his ex-wife played by Monica Bellucci. Now that may seem like a lot, but what if I told you there is also a rift between Lydia and Astrid that has been growing ever since the death of their respective husband and father, all the while Willem Dafeo plays a dead actor turned underworld cop who is trying to purse Belluci’s character. Not to mention that also in the mix is Rory (Justin Theroux), Lydia’s partner, romantically and financially, a new-age therapy, “sensitive empath” type, who tries to not only fill in as a cool step-dad for Astrid but also attempts to marry Lydia while her father is being mourned. Oh, and let’s not forget about everyone’s favorite visual gag turned secondary character Bob, who is being disguised as Beetlejuice to…
Okay look, this story is an overly-complicated and surprisingly uneventful mess, with way too much going on. Scenes are shoestring together by events that seem to happen only to progress the plot to the next comedy beat and or wacky situation the characters must endure next. I even neglect to talk about another plot point that I won’t explain because this review is already late, and I don’t think it would persuade you to see the film any more than what was already presented. As you go on this ever-winding road, with sudden turns and confusing intersections, you will find some truly entertaining scenes. Scenes that remind you that you’re watching a film made by Tim Burton. You know, the guy who made Peewee’s Big Adventure? That being said, all the filling in between can be best summed up as lackluster or just straight dull, which are only salvageable because of the life-saving hit-or-miss performances from its cast.
Just so we can get him out of the way and not say his name too many times, the titular character of Beetlejuice completely rises from the grave through Keaton’s performance. He returns to the character with vigor and gusto, pulling out one-liners, catchphrases, and ever-diminishing quips and slapstick. Unlike his previous show-stopping run, Keaton’s role in this movie is less of a surprisingly delicious entree and more like good microwaved leftovers. It’s Beetlejuice, just as you remember, with all the quirks, charm, and disgust, even if those edges are sanded down a little to be what one can only guess as a more “family-friendly” approach. Ryder is giving a solid performance as a mom with emotional baggage from her tragic life and the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. It’s nice to see her character organically grow into a distant mother, but I wouldn’t say it’s the most compelling performance, unlike O’Hara who comes into this movie swinging. This Delia, while still the flamboyant artist, has picked up a lot of traits from Moira Rose, which proves to be for the best as she is easily the most entertaining character to follow. Dafoe is equally fun, with his dead actor persona that honestly gets more funny as the film goes on.
Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is hit or miss. Ortega is a likable exposition machine, who can’t help but monologue to whatever character she is opposite of. Theroux is a machine gun of therapy jargon and emotional manipulation phrases that only hits due to the sheer amount of jokes he’s throwing at you in his scenes. Arthur Conti, who plays a guy called Jeremy in that plot line I didn’t explain, gives a pretty bland love interest to Ortega who is just alright. The biggest dud has to be Bellucci who is just here? Like her scenes are designed to be big, exciting visual moments, but her character lacks any depth or personality that when she entered a scene, I honestly lost excitement for what was going to happen next.
Before I move on, we have to talk about the odd elephant in the room which is convicted sex offender Jeffery Jones being somewhat involved in this film. For those who don’t know, Jones was charged with soliciting a minor to pose for nude photographs in 2003 and was arrested for possessing child pornography, it’s safe to say he has not been the most beloved aspect of the original film. Burton seems to know this and has his character be killed off as the inciting incident for the plot. The weird part is how prominent his image is used in the film. Jones does not directly perform, but not only is his face constantly shown in photographs, but there’s also a physical actor portraying part of his torso, which is explained in an animated short film that portrays how he dies featuring an animated version of Jones. It honestly felt like he was there, while not “really” being there. While leaving the theatre, a friend brought up that it’s more than likely that Burton had to pay to use Jones’ likeness and face, so in a way, he paid this federally listed sex offender to be in this film. Now I’m not sure if that is completely true, but the film does sort of paint a positive light on this character’s memory which personally gave this reviewer the ick. Doesn’t ruin the film, but does affect my impression of Burton.
The biggest problem with this film is that you can clearly see that Burton’s still got it. He can’t play a full game, but Burton can and will hit a couple of surprisingly impressive 3-pointers that are then followed by some nearly catastrophic airballs. To go back to the plot, it feels like the film’s story is only an excuse to pull off funny bits and jokes in the sandbox of this style of movie. Honestly, Belluci’s whole character story seems to exist so Burton can show off his hot new girlfriend and have some creative scenes of a woman stapling random body parts back together. Burton seems less interested in expanding the story of these characters and vibes, and more interested in showing wacky moments of Beetlejuice reciting his origin story in the style of an old Italian horror film, or O’Hare doing some bizarre artistic expression, or whatever new bit he’s come up with. The plot is an excuse to connect bits, much like a Monty Python film but without the clever dialogue or social commentary, and more what if the train to the afterlife is called “The Soul Train” and it’s like the TV show “Soul Train” where people dance to disco. It’s shallow, but not completely boring.
Other aspects highlight this like the use of practical effects to showcase goofy expressions and characters. The previously mentioned Bob is an impressive puppet/mascot costume character along with all the other denizens of the afterlife, but they exist only to be a bit in a scene. Pretty much all of Keaton’s quips are excuses to let him do strange physical comedy or use some sort of effect-based joke, which do land most of the time. These seem to be more important to Burton than furthering the development of characters or themes.
Even though I’m critical of this, Burton does seem to daftly craft great side-steps or straight-up subversions to the legacy sequel cliches. He avoids reusing too many previous jokes, there are some but it’s not completely littered with them. Burton has his character say to the camera that certain things from the original, like the main characters Adam and Barbara, are just not going to show up. Sadly, Burton does fall into the obvious pitfalls of obvious references and overexplaining certain concepts of the previous film in very slow, dumbed-down ways. It’s honestly disappointing that while there are some fresh ideas, the whole package still feels like original with new add-ons.
When I was graduating high school, I saw The Red Hot Chili Peppers perform in concert, and while their more recent songs were lacking at times when they reached into their bag and pulled out a classic, the arena became electric. This is the experience of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, seeing a legend come back, hit a few strong, new beats, land the classics, but ultimately sound past their prime. Burton showcases that he may not be able to make a completely new, exciting, and engaging film, but he’s still got some juice in him and can keep you entertained with hit-or-miss new material and guaranteed classic hits. All and all, this is an entertaining hour and forty-four minutes with a messy story, fun performances, and interesting choices, that honestly all amount to what feels like a straight-to-TV sequel that somehow managed to get most of the original cast back together.
3/5
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