Search - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Blu-ray + Digital) on Blu-ray

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

Thirty-six years after the brilliant original, Tim Burton released "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," a film nobody asked for or needed or wanted or should bother with.

I mean the red flags should've been obvious from the get-go. Jeffrey Jones (Charles Deetz) was arrested in 2002 on child pornography charges, so obviously he wasn't coming back; in October 2021 Alec Baldwin (Adam Maitlin) shot a crewmember on the set of "Rust," so obviously he wasn't coming back; Michael Keaton (god love him) is in his 70s and obviously wouldn't bring the same manic energy level to the character of Beetlejuice...it was just a bad idea all around.

But I won't criticize how the script handles Jones's absence (eaten by a shark) or Baldwin's ("we found a loophole and the Maitlins are in heaven now"), nor will I criticize Keaton's performance. I will, however, criticize the script for being bland, overwrought, and unsubtle.

The original Beetlejuice screenplay (by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson) is understated in its approach to the story. I think Burton's garish style complements the material well. Consider Otho's throwaway line "You know what they say about people who commit suicide...in the afterlife they become civil servants." Several scenes later, Miss Argentina, working the Help Desk in the afterlife, reveals that "If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident," and reveals the scars on her wrists. Beetlejuice was full of moments like that where the script and the filmmaking didn't shove your nose in the jokes, they let you work it out on your own.

That art has been largely lost in filmmaking. Beetlejuice x2 lingers on shots to MAKE SURE YOU GOT THE JOKE. Wordplay and subtle character moments are nonexistent. And - there are simply too many antagonists. Beetlejuice himself, his ex-wife (Monica Bellucci), Jeremy the boy next door (Arthur Conti) who gets in a relationship with Lydia Deetz's daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega)...many plot lines to keep track of, none of which are satisfied in a "fun" way like the original's Beetlejuice vs. the Deetzes and Maitlins was. There is one interesting sequence which tells the backstory behind the human Beetlejuice was and how he met his wife, but it only lasts a couple of minutes and then we're back in Burton's obvious modern day.

There was, for a mercy, a lack of continuous/overt callbacks to the original, except when necessary (e.g. the appearance of The Handbook for the Recently Deceased). So the writers (Alfred Gough and Miles Millar) had the good sense to avoid too many callbacks, but their lack of subtlety makes the film a slog to get through anyway.

(I also won't criticize Catherine O'Hara. She is a holy, blameless creature who can do no wrong, even when the script sucks.)

Grade: C-minus

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 12/20/2024...

Along the lines of the classic with Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and others leading the way for a new dimension of Beetlejuice! A must watch!