The phrase, “Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betetlgeuse” has become synonymous with pop-culture, thanks to the genius of director Tim Burton who directed the original 1988 movie
The original “Beetlejuice” is an ‘80s classic. It mixed both horror and comedy, which made it a hit, so why not make a sequel? The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) aired an animated series from 1989 through 1991. Screenwriter Jonathan Gems wrote a script where Betelgeuse traveled to Hawaii, but the movie was never produced. In 2018, Broadway hosted Beetlejuice the Musical.
When it was announced Burton would direct a sequel, I had no doubt it would be amazing, considering the original members of the Deetz family returned, except one. However, Jeffrey Jones not reprising his role was cleverly implemented into the story. The adventure kicks off with his character Charles Deetz dying. The plot also goes through Betelgeuse’s plague-ridden backstory, explaining his past before dying and going to the afterlife.
The plot focuses on Lydia Deetz’s daughter Astrid as she goes through family troubles and falls in love with a boy who turns out to be a ghost. He tricks her into trading souls causing Lydia to make a deal with Betelguese to return her daughter back to the mortal realm.
The Film includes several subplots as well. The mourning Delia Deetz tries to make an art project based around grief. Wickham, Lydia’s assistant, wants to marry Lydia for fame and publicity because of her famous television show “Ghost House”, and of course, Beetlegeuse’s crazy ex-wife Delores wants to reunite with her love so she can steal his soul.
That all might sound complicated, but it intertwined beautifully by the end of the movie, which had an amazing climax. Betelgeuse and Lydia’s wedding takes place featuring a standoff between Delores, Wickham and every other main character, including Willem Dafoe’s character Wolf Jackson, an actor turned cop who has no idea what he’s doing.
Nearly half the movie takes place in the afterlife, and it looks amazing with modern technology and CGI. The constant misty effect and the overall dark and eerie mood of the afterlife allows for more unique ghost designs with even more bizarre deaths than the original. The normal world looks like every other movie, but the inside of the main house has a strange nostalgic feel to it.
Of course throughout the movie, several callbacks to the original movie are shown. The song “Banana Boat (Day-O)” is played at Charles’ funeral, Lydia and Astrid encounter a sandworm on Titan, and Bob, the hilarious employee of Betelgeuse who has a shrunken head. A callback to the guy that shrunk Betelgeuse’s head at the end of the original film.
Overall, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a work of art with a great story that feels like a true sequel to the original, 9/10.
Now without further ado, home home home.
