Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

 

I had wondered how the lives of characters from my favorite Beetlejuice (1988) movie would have developed before the new Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was announced. So of course, I needed to see it asap and it gave me all the answers I needed as it was not a remake but continuation of the original story. A lot of the scenes in the movie are references to the previous one so you might want to watch the og Beetlejuice so you would understand the relationships between the characters better.

8/10

Mostly, it is a easy-to-watch comedy; not a movie you would die laughing at while watching it but its subtle morbid humor is precisely what I like. Overall there was a lot to see in the movie. The start of the film was maybe a bit too slow, with seemingly neverending dialogues. However, as the story in the movie unfolds we get to see just what we expect from Burton and maybe a bit more than that, as the Juice was loose indeed. 

Surprisingly, the character I like the most in the movie was Deelia. I feel like her character was the one with most amusing lines and her eccentric and frantic behavior was so well played. Monica Belluci was alsa an amazing choice for the role of Delores. And I especially like how Delores was shown to be a truly villain character. A character with no hope to turn good again, seeking only revenge and nothing else.

I felt like the character of Astrid was too similar to Wednesday in some moments; that was mostly due to her sarcastic remarks. I'd love to see Jenna play a different sort of character in Burton's movie as well. The plot development of "boy I like turns out to be a villain" was another moment where I was reminded of Wednesday storyline. This entire plot development was not really that surprising and despite its resemblance to Wednesday, I enjoyed it.

As for Lydia... I still am not sure whether she even reminds me of Lydia from the first movie as a character. I felt like her being this naive around Rory was too different from how I perceived her in the movies before. 

I like how the scenes from afterlife waiting room and sandworms referenced the 80's Beetlejuice, yet we got to see more of this world and how it works there. It seems that Burton gave us enough of both nostalgic and new ideas to make the film interesting for everyone.

More of what I liked: Astrid's family reunion in the afterlife, sandworms, a lot of Beetlejuice screentime, "men with small heads everywhere", the cast from the first Beetlejuice appearing again, baby Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice's and Delores' wedding, visuals in the afterlife waiting room, Bob, "come mister tallyman, tally me banana"