Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024, dir. Tim Burton)

by Jack Martin | Sep 5, 2024

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 105 mins

UK Distributor: Warner Bros

UK Release Date: 6 September 2024

WHO’S IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE?

Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Burn Gorman, Arthur Conti, Filipe Cates, Danny DeVito

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Tim Burton (director, producer), Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (writers), Dede Gardner, Tommy Harper, Jeremy Kleiner and Marc Toberoff (producers), Danny Elfman (composer), Haris Zambarloukos (cinematographer), Jay Prychidny (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Demonic “bio-exorcist” Betelgeuse (Keaton) is resurrected for more afterlife mayhem…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE?

Tim Burton has clearly not been himself for much of the last decade. Even his most loyal fans will tell you that the creative auteur, who originally delighted with imaginative films like Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish and Ed Wood (the latter being my personal favourite film of his), has fallen sharply with pretty-looking but ultimately soulless ventures such as Dark Shadows, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and his live-action takes on Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Dumbo. Burton himself has recently been vocal about his miserable experience on the latter, which reportedly almost led him to quit the industry entirely, so it’s fair to say that even he agrees that he wasn’t as wild as he used to be.

Luckily, all he needed to do was to go right back to where it all began. His 1988 breakout film Beetlejuice was the one that introduced most audiences – or, at least, the ones who didn’t previously see his debut feature Pee-wee’s Big Adventure – to Burton’s trademark aesthetic, and among his earliest works it perhaps best represents everything that people know and love about the filmmaker, from the wackily surreal visuals to an underlying wicked sense of humour. By returning to this realm with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton has managed to regrasp what he has been missing all this time, and in doing so has made by far his most energetic and, indeed, fun movies in a long while.

Taking place many years after the events of the first film, the titular demon Betelgeuse (played once more by Michael Keaton) is lounging about in the afterlife, still reeling from his failed attempt to marry the teenage medium Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder). She’s now the host of a paranormal reality show, produced by her exploitative partner Rory (Justin Theroux), and along with her sullen daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and her self-obsessed artist stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is summoned back to the town of Winter River after the death of her father Charles (originally played by Jeffrey Jones, who’s not in this film because, well, he’s Jeffrey Jones). Eventually, the Deetz family finds itself once again plagued by afterlife mayhem, and it falls upon Lydia to summon Betelgeuse once again to help them out, albeit for a characteristically sinister price.

If it already sounds like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has a lot going on all at once, with numerous characters going through their own arcs on top of regular interludes within the supernatural realm, buckle up ‘cos we’re just getting started. There’s also a number of sub-plots and supporting characters that are equally fighting for the same amount of screentime, including a vengeful spirit played by Monica Bellucci who’s out for revenge, a blossoming teen romance between Ortega’s Astrid and Arthur Conti’s Jeremy, an impromptu Halloween wedding, and Willem Dafoe as an afterlife cop (well, he was an actor who played one whilst alive) in pursuit of Betelgeuse for a number of reasons. Oh, and there’s Bob. You can’t miss out Bob.

Admittedly, the script – as written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the creators and showrunners of Netflix’s Wednesday which both Burton and Ortega have worked on – is impossibly overstuffed, to where it’s sometimes hard to determine who and what the film is actually meant to be about. It certainly isn’t Keaton’s Betelgeuse, for while he’s central to a lot of the stuff that’s happening, like in the original film his screentime is fairly limited. In his stead, a mixture of characters both old and new all make their cases to be the main focus at numerous junctions, to where there’s no room for certain main figures from the previous movie (who are rather unceremoniously written out with a single line of dialogue). Ultimately, though, many of them become lost in the chaotic mixture, as do their contributing arcs which are sometimes seen through to the very end but are more often either dropped extremely quickly or left to meander until the time is right.

As cluttered as the script may be, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice knows exactly how to give its audience an enjoyable time, while retaining much of the bonkers nature of its predecessor. Burton really is operating on a vibrant level here, pouring so much energy and imagination into some fantastic sets and costumes that are wonderfully weird and suitably deranged, as well as a number of nifty stop-motion effects and practical puppetry, all thankfully in lieu of noticeable CGI, which make it easier to connect this film with the more iconic original. The bouncy Danny Elfman score and some autumnal cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos significantly help to replicate that original sensory experience, as do the spirited (no pun intended) performances by a lively and often very funny ensemble cast, with Michael Keaton of course being the highlight as he slips all too easily back into the uncouth mannerisms of his iconic anti-hero.

But this is Tim Burton’s moment, as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice gives the filmmaker a golden opportunity to proudly reintroduce his true self to audiences after many years apart, and he’s more than taken it. For the most part, it’s a successful re-reinvention, as you get the vivid creativity from his most notable works, while also a chaotic energy that has been sorely missed for many years, all of which should remind viewers why they fell in love with this filmmaker in the first place.

Welcome back, Tim; it’s been far too long since you’ve been around.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a lively return to form for Tim Burton, who brings back the delightfully creative energy that’s been sorely missing from the filmmaker’s work for years, and despite a cluttered script featuring too many plots and characters, the film is a fun ride that most audiences will be glad to experience.