Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

The Ghost With The Most is BACK!  More than thirty-six years after the original cult smash Beetlejuice was released into theaters, director Tim Burton returns along with Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, and Michael Keaton in the titular role.  New additions to the cast include Jenna Ortega (Scream 6, Wednesday), Monica Bellucci (Irreversible, Matrix Reloaded), and Justin Theroux (The Leftovers, Mulholland Drive).  The plot?  Well....let's just say that there are lots of thrills, chills, laughs, and....disco music? :) 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

https://livingforthecinema.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/

Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/

Transcript

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE - 2024

Directed by Tim Burton

Starring Micheal Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Belluci, Arthur Conti, Burn Gorman, Santiago Cabrera, Danny DeVito, and Willem Dafoe

Genre: Horror Comedy (Audio clip)

Props to Tim Burton who has delivered a long-delayed sequel to that original '88 camp classic which might not be the one today's moviegoers need but more likely the one they deserve. It's not quite as tight, witty, nor as breezy as that first movie but it kinda makes up for that with more creatively garish sets, more gonzo characters, more outrageous splatter-gore, and significantly more disco music than I ever could hoped for! :) How this movie has more blood than Alien Romulus and STILL nabbed a PG-13 rating kinda blows my mind....as does the fact that it feels quite overstuffed with subplots and side characters at points yet still tops out at a gratefully lean 104 minute runtime. 

Not sure how Burton pulled this off as he has managed to craft (with co-writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar) managed to craft a full-on "lega-sequel" which on paper almost ticks off all of the expected fan-servicey boxes you would expect....and yet it still feels fresh and even a bit subversive by today's homogenized entertainment standards. Because you've got plenty of callbacks and member-berries here - admittedly the way with which we hear the return of "Day-O" from the first movie IS kind of clunky - and yet I did find myself genuinely surprised several times throughout.

Returning to this nutso universe filled with big-city-vs-small-town tropes mixed with all of the darker elements of the "Recently Deceased" I also just found myself pleasantly surprised as to how gleefully nasty the story gets in ways that the first film never quite approached. Several things happened which I just was not expecting and that kept this feeling fresh for me....without losing this universe's absurdist tone. :) I have always found that managing a consistent tone has been a hit-or-miss proposition for Burton even among some of his more beloved movies like Edward Scissorhands or that first Batman. But he achieved a nice balance with the original Beetlejuice and that carries over here - characters we are supposed to know and love are often facing death and as some potentially cross over (sometimes in gruesome ways too), it still felt playful all the way through to a slam-bang conclusion which I think actually raises the movie a notch! 

The returning players besides Burton are of course also key to that - it was just GLORIOUS to hear Danny Elfman's bombastic score reprised again in Dolby Sound no less! (Audio clip) The same goes for returning visual master Bo Welch who's not the DP this time around but served as consultant on the film....the sets and creatures and scales get bigger this time around but you STILL feel the marks of all of his German Expressionist-tinged lunacy throughout. 🤗 Of course there's the cast.....Winona Ryder is goofily endearing returning as Lydia Deetz, she's pretty much the co-lead here with Jenna Ortega playing her daughter Astrid. Those expecting a Wednesday redux from Ortega are likely to be a bit disappointed as certainly plays things the straightest and most serious. She still acquits herself well with the absurd humor whenever necessary and it's just a joy to watch Ryder and her as mother and daughter - it's spot-on casting! 

It's great to see Catherine O'Hara back as the continuously bat-s@#t Delia Deetz and some other fun additions include Burn Gorman as the local priest, Justin Thorough hamming it up as Lydia's boyfriend/producer (she hosts a TV show about the paranormal, and to my utter delight.....DAFOE playing an satirically arch version of a police detective for the paranormal, he's just killing it, loved his make-up job with the exposed brain. 😆 Speaking of which.....how have Burton and Dafoe NOT worked together before?? 🤫 This collaboration was long overdue....

Of course that leaves Michael Keaton returning to play The Big Guy, our titular anti-hero who can be an effective agent of chaos even as he proves useful enough to have various characters always calling for him when their backs are to the wall. Keaton does NOT disappoint....it also helps that he has likely just aged well into the make-up this many years later. ;) He's got the same energy, the same wit....as with the first movie, he provides a fun centerpiece for much of the action on screen even though he's not the central character. His character is still nasty at times but never to distractingly unpleasant levels....as with everything else nailed this time around, it all comes down to tone. 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

Oh yeah did I mention DISCO?  Not gonna lie but just the savvy placement of a few key notable disco hits might have raised this review by half a star alone.  Now to be fair, the real capper for this movie in general is the DELIGHTFUL use of a non-disco song played during the final climax which I will try not to spoil too much as this just came out….and that would be the groovy 1968 pop smash, “MacArthur Park” sung by the late great Irish actor Richard Harris….it’s adroitly used VERY well during this sequence. (Audio clip) 

Now anyone who’s a regular listener of this podcast KNOWS that I’m a genuine sucker for disco remakes of already popular songs or themes….well there WAS one performed only ten years later in ’78 which became a smash in itself, by the late great Disco queen Donna Summer no less…..and of course, THAT version is also featured here during the closing credits. (Audio clip) 

Beyond that the Bee Gee’s make an appearance with the 1979 disco jam from their POST-Saturday Night Fever album “Spirits Having Flown” – yeah that would be “Tragedy” but I’ll get to THAT one soon in the next category.  But even better??  Well it’s none other the theme to “Soul Train,” the popular dancing TV show from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s…..and yes I’m referring to the ORIGINAL disco theme from the ‘70’s performed by TSOP, The Sounds of Philadelphia.  We hear it during two different book-ending sequences taking place….mostly on trains….and I’ll leave it at that, just out of sight! (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Yea in case you didn’t notice, there is ONE major cast member who I haven’t mentioned as of yet and that would be Monica Bellucci who plays Delores….who is Beetlejuice’s ex-wife….sort of.  She is the closest this movie comes to having a conventional villain and that might be part of the problem….VISUALLY she’s of course very striking.  Not just the actress herself who is STILL devastatingly beautiful at 60 but the character presents as a stitched together corpse who is introduced via a very inventive sequence which I quite enjoyed…..and set to the tune of the Bee Gee’s no less!  But that sequence is pretty much it…..for the remainder of the movie, she’s just pretty much stalking through hallways dialogue-free and that’s pretty much it.  It’s pretty much a case of at least one character too many….and on the page and on-screen, hers gets short shrift. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

This was a tough call as it was SO tempting to choose one of several aforementioned musical sequences…but I’ll keep it simpler.  Now it has always been speculated that the stop-motion sandworms which were such a threat in that original movie were SOMEWHAT influenced by the sandworms in the original David Lynch version of Dune which was released to theaters four years prior.  Well right around 40 minutes into this sequel, we first see the re-emergence of those underworld sandworms again…..and any remaining doubt that Burton’s sandworms were influenced by the Dune franchise can now be laid to rest.  Because when we first get an inkling of the looming arrival of a sandworm as witnessed by Lydia and Astrid HERE….well it feels very much like a visual homage to what transpires in those more recent Dune movies from Denis Villaneuve.  It works here too, it’s well rendered, and ..as stated in previous episode Dune Part II, you can NEVER have enough sandworm action! (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

At the end of the day, this is a director’s movie through and through – it has his style, his vision, his dark sense of humor, and the minimal doses of heart he has infused into movies like this, going back to the first Beetlejuice and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.  All of his influences are on full-on display throughout…including Italian melodrama from the likes of Federico Fellini which is VERY much paid homage in one early origin sequence for the title character….shot in black and white, spoken entirely in Italian.  What other modern blockbuster director would do that? (Audio clip)   

For putting his own personal stamp on the increasingly tired concept of the “lega-sequel” and delivering a highly entertaining movie as a result, Tim Burton is the MVP. 

Final Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Burton, Keaton and crew prove once again that you can get away with a LOT on-screen when you can keep things brisk and entertaining. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a delight!

Now Playing in Theaters

And that ends another GRAND-GUIGNOL review!