Many people know and love the 1988 horror-comedy film Beetlejuice. The Tim Burton film was a major success, grossing $84 million on a $15 million production budget. Beetlejuice went on to win many awards including the Academy Award for Best Makeup and three Saturn Awards.
A sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, had its theatrical release on September 6, 2024. It was a bit disappointing, to say the least. Burton set the bar so high in Beetlejuice, that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice almost can not compare.
The sequel contains returning film stars Micheal Keaton as Beetlejuice, and Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz. New actors were also brought to the screen as well. New, more popular cast members were definitely what brought a decent percentage of viewers to the theaters. However, the plot was not executed as well as the original Beetlejuice.
With the sequel set over 30 years later, Lydia Deetz is the host of her own supernatural talk show. Her daughter, still trying to mourn the loss of her father, is unsupportive of her mother throughout most of the film. In the midst of Astrid’s vulnerability, she stumbles across a boy whose intentions seem promising… until they are not. The film became the tenth highest grossing film of the year.
For being a Burton directed film, the standards were set high. This movie is not one to recommend for those not interested in supernatural beings. Overall, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice could have had a better plot, as well as a better choice of character development. The film did disappoint, yet some could argue otherwise.
