Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: An Enjoyable, but Flawed Follow-up

 

Another day, another sequel. Sequels, prequels, reboots and reimaginings seem to be what are mostly shown in multiplexes. There are still quality films to be found among all of this of course. I won't bury the lead (pun maybe intended) and will go ahead and say that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a good movie. How good though? And what should you expect?

It's worth mentioning first that the returning cast members all inhabit their characters brilliantly. Delia (Catherine O'Hara) is even funnier than she was in the original. Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) doesn't miss a beat returning to his character and I like how he has more screen time in this entry. Lydia (Winona Ryder) and Astrid (Jenna Ortega) have a believable mother/daughter dynamic. New to the Beetlejuice world is Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) who is hilarious in every scene he's in. Outside of the spectacular cast, what other elements work in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?

I appreciated the continuing world-building efforts in the film. I employ the word "efforts" because the world-building in this franchise (if two movies and an animated series qualify something as a franchise) is full of contradictions. This isn't a complaint per se as comedy is what is at the forefront of the Beetlejuice universe. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice spends a lot of time in the afterlife and expands on how it works and what happens to people when they pass away. 

I've brought up comedy multiple times and will state the obvious by saying that the movie is incredibly funny. You'll have many moments of laughing out loud. The only character whose comedic antics might become tiring is Rory (Justin Theroux). He inhabits the role well, don't get me wrong. Sometimes the humor can come across as a bit forced though. The character is pretty one-dimensional too. Rory is far from the biggest issue in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice though.

This movie suffers from being overstuffed. There are too many subplots going on. With one you'll likely feel like its conclusion was rushed and/or unsatisfactory. With another subplot, I'll just say that it's pointless and could have been omitted completely. Certain gags go on for too long. I understand that Beetlejuice has powers of deception, manipulation, etc. at his disposal, but one scene in particular towards the end should have been edited down. Why Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis aren't in the sequel is explained in a brief line which felt like lazy writing. I know I said earlier that I excuse inconsistencies in how the Beetlejuice world operates, but the characters deserved a better reason for their absence. 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice certainly has its highs and lows. The film is clever, imaginative, creative and has just the right amount of scary (I just want to say quickly that I don't think either Beetlejuice movie is for kids) much like its predecessor. The sequel suffers from too many things going on. Excess is a word that comes to mind. You'll laugh and be thoroughly entertained by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but the experience won't quite reach that of Beetlejuice. To paraphrase one of Beetlejuice's lines, maybe the juice is too loose here.

Rating:

Green Light