Written by Alfred Gough And Miles Millar And Seth Grahame-Smith
Directed by Tim Burton
Beetlejuice: "I just had the weirdest dream."
Legacy sequels can be a mixed bag, can't they? There are some movies that probably don't need expansion and the one from 1988 arguably could've been that. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this sequel. Fortunately, I really did.
Set in the current day and things are different for Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder). Not only has she gotten older and developed a better relationship with stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara) but she's also become a parent herself. Yup, she's got her own angsty and resentful teenage daughter in Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and their relationship isn't a good one for most of this movie.
On top of that, Lydia has also turned her ability to communicate with ghosts into a television show and even bagged herself a sleazy fiancée named Rory (Justin Theroux). Yeah, Rory's not someone you'd want to be with and even Lydia seems to barely tolerate his pseudo feminist act.
The better part though would be Lydia having nightmares about Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) with the latter trying to work his way back into her life. Thanks to Rory, Lydia and Betelgeuse did reunite and also thanks to Astrid getting tricked by a killer named Jeremy (Arthur Conti), Lydia really did need Betelgeuse's help in order to get Astrid back from the afterlife.
While all this was happening, the movie had two other characters that needed more time to be developed. There was Betelgeuse's soul sucking ex-wife, Delores (Monica Belluci) and ghost detective, Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe). Both are fun characters but suffer a bit from not enough screen time.
As for the Deetz family, I did like that nearly being sent to the Soul Train and a brief reunion with Richard (Santiago Cabrera) managed to thaw both Lydia and Astrid's fractured relationship. Then there was what happened to Delia. Again, it's a bit rushed and not given enough weight to have the desired effect. Personally, I probably wouldn't have done it but it's a minor complaint in a largely enjoyable second outing.
- Danny DeVito had a fun cameo as a janitor and there was a bit of a bigger role for the shrunken headed Bob (Nick Kellington).
- Shout outs to both Burn Gornan and Amy Nuttall. The former as a funny priest and the latter playing the grown daughter of the realtor from the first movie and be one herself.
- Charles Deetz's death got one hell of an animation and seemed to be a good way to write out that character from the movie. A loophole had Adam and Barbara move on for good.
- That last nightmare sequence really did feel like they were laying the groundwork for a third movie. I think we could get it too.
- Standout music: Alfie Davis and the Sylvia Young Theatre School Choir's version of Day-O and the Bee Gees Tragedy.
- Chronology: Present day in Winter River, Connecticut. Everyone had moved back to New York City between movies.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn't a total slam dunk of a sequel but it definitely worked better than expected. Some plots/characters definitely needed time to breathe but the main action between the title character, Lydia and Astrid certainly made up for things. I wouldn't have said it a few months ago but it does look like there's some life left in this IP to explore.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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