As the fall season approaches, Beetlejuice rises back from the dead for the first time since 1988 in Tim Burton’s original film, “Beetlejuice”. This time, he’s back for the sequel; “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”.
The movie was released on September 6th and with a partial returning cast that includes Micheal Keaton as Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, and Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, fans of the original movie should be pleased to find that the sequel maintains the same elements of the original with small modernized twists. Some of these twists being the notable additions to the cast, including Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, and Danny Devito.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” tells the story of the Deetz family being faced with a tragedy which is the death of Charles Deetz, Lydia’s father and Delia’s husband, forcing them to return to their home in Winter River where the first film took place. Lydia Deetz, still embracing a gothic lifestyle as she did 40 years ago, returns in the sequel as a mother and talk show host where she takes on the role of a ghost-whisper; a nod to her character in the original film.
Lydia is mother to Astrid Deetz, played by Jenna Ortega, and it is safe to say that Astrid’s character is just as angsty and rebellious as Lydia’s character once was. Astrids rebellion leads her and her mother into a whirlwind of struggle when she discovers a portal to the afterlife where she then gets stuck in, tasking Lydia with getting her out and eventually leaning towards Beetlejuice for help.
Beetlejuice, however, is faced with problems of his own in this film. Beetlejuice’s crazy ex-wife, Delores, played by Monica Belluci, sets out to retrieve Beetlejuice and take his soul from him to keep her for herself. As Beetlejuice discovers this, he does everything in his power to avoid Delores; including sacrificing his shrunken-head assistant, Bob.
After being out for just over a month, the sequel has surpassed milestones at the box office, bringing in a grand total beyond the $400 million mark. With the movie being a part of Tim Burton’s remarkable filmography, it now sits at his second-highest domestic film behind “Alice In Wonderland”.
As a self-proclaimed Beetlejuice fan myself, I can say that the film definitely did not fail to meet my expectations. Whereas many sequels tend to miss the mark of keeping the same elements of the movie they originated from, Tim Burton did an excellent job of maintaining the same components that brought fans to love Beetlejuice in the first place whilst still introducing a new story line and new characters.
Although you would typically have to repeat “Beetlejuice” three times in order for him to appear, it has now been made easier as the sequel will now be available to be streamed on multiple streaming services such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
