Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ falls short of high expectations

Warning: Spoilers for the 1988 prequel film, “Beetlejuice”.

The 1988 film “Beetlejuice” is a horror/comedy directed by Tim Burton that has served as a Halloween-time staple since its creation. “Beetlejuice” has an immense following and serves as an endlessly quotable, forever iconic film. 

So imagine everyone’s excitement when “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, a sequel to the original, was announced 35 years later. 

Not only a sequel, but a sequel with many members of the original cast returning, such as Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, and of course, Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice. 

This sequel also features faces new to the series, such as up-and-coming scream queen and Tim Burton favorite Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson, and Justin Theroux as Rory. Not to mention, Burton’s current partner, Monica Bellucci who had a role in the film as well as Beetlejuice’s ex-wife, Delores.

When the first trailer dropped in March 2024, the hype for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was unmatched. Opening with an eerie children’s choir rendition of “Banana Boat (Day-O)” by Harry Belafonte and shots of the Deetz family at an unknown funeral, everything pointed to this sequel being just as phenomenal as the first.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” opens just as the original did, with the same score and credits rolling over shots through the model town of Winter River. But right after the opening credits, things immediately fall flat.

We open to Lydia Deetz (Ryder), seemingly breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience, welcoming us into the story. A camera switch then reveals that Lydia is introducing her ghost show to a studio audience, where she’s hired by people with “haunted” houses. 

Here, we learn about Lydia’s supposed ability to see ghosts, which comes into play for her ghost hunting show. This is also where we are introduced to Lydia’s love interest, Rory (Theroux), who helps produce her show.

These opening scenes immediately set an unpleasant tone to the movie, and it doesn’t get better as things go on. As we learn of a death in the Deetz family, we’re introduced to another questionable scene — this time, in stop motion animation. It’s a style switch that doesn’t translate well, and audiences would’ve been better off with a verbal explanation, rather than oddly timed claymation.

As the film continues, the plot gets muggier. Lydia, Delia, Rory and Astrid all return to the iconic Maitland house from the 1988 “Beetlejuice”, where Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) died in the original film. Although they don’t appear in the sequel, they are still heavily referenced.

Once in the Maitland house, traces of Beetlejuice start to return. However, his return is not as hyped up as it should have been. In fact — his appearances are very underwhelming. Throughout the film, we catch multiple POV’s following different characters, like Astrid’s, Lydia’s, Delores’s, Wolf’s and Beetlejuice’s. And honestly — it’s just too much. 

The plotline of the original is simple: Barbara and Adam’s untimely death results in them calling an unreliable demon, Beetlejuice, to scare away the new owners of their house. Of course, it didn’t work out the way they expected. While they try to grapple with the chaos they’ve welcomed into the land of the living, they must try to protect the young girl, Lydia, residing in the house who can see and communicate with them, despite them being dead.

However, it seems like Tim Burton’s ambitions may have overcome him, because there isn’t a solid plot to this long-awaited sequel at all. The multiple POV’s makes it very hard to figure out what the main plot is, and by the end of the movie, you’re still not sure. Three plots all tangle together, creating an unsatisfying movie. 

One entire plot could have been tossed from the film all together, and it’s all surrounding Delores (Bellucci). Without spoiling too much of the film, her presence in the film is completely unnecessary, as also seems like an act of nepotism from Burton, who potentially just wanted to give a role to his partner.

Now, the worst part of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” isn’t its vague plotlines, it’s actually the dismal acting and over-the-top weird scenes.

Don’t get me wrong, anyone who knows “Beetlejuice” and Tim Burton knows that weird is pretty much the standard, but Burton has crossed the line with this sequel. The worst of all being the “Beetlebaby”, which I won’t dive too deeply into in the spirit of spoiler free reviews — but it was enough to have me scrunch my nose in distaste. Perhaps Burton tried a little too hard to achieve humor with this one.

As for the underwhelming acting, the most disappointing performance came from Winona Ryder herself — which is a shock for any fan of hers, including myself. Her performance was lifeless and forced for the majority of the story, almost as if she was thrown into the movie against her will. I’d like to give Ryder the benefit of the doubt with this one and blame it on a mediocre screenplay, since her acting is always outstanding, but it was definitely sub-par in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”.

Thankfully, this film was carried by a few actors who took their performances above and beyond: Michael Keaton and Willem Dafoe. These two actors, like usual, delivered powerful and entertaining performances that shed some light on this dim sequel. 

Overall, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is simply not worth your time, or money. Its lackluster acting, confusing plot and try-hard humor fall short of the iconic 1988 original. If you want to preserve your nostalgic memories of “Beetlejuice”, then skip this sequel, stay home and rewatch Barbara and Adam fight off Beetlejuice on their own.