JV Reviews Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. by joshvirgin on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Hey Again Here Is My Review Of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Enjoy.

Happy 73rd Birthday Michael Keaton. You’re Always The Ghost With The Most And The Best Batman. 🦇🪲👻😈

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C9vv3-AYxkw&feature=youtu.be

Wow In 2024 We Got Both A “Ghostbusters” Sequel And A “Beetlejuice” Sequel? I Must Be Dreaming.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Is The Sequel To The Tim Burton Classic “Beetlejuice” That Has Been Awaited By Fans For 36 Years.

Incidentally This Wasn’t The First Attempt At A Sequel Believe It Or Not. The First Being A Tropical Based Film Called “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian” That Saw The Deetzes Needing Him After Buying A Haunted Island. Plus Many Others Including A Western And One Set In France Apparently.

Until Finally We Got This Film Which Follows Lydia Now A Parent To Her Daughter Astrid Deetz Who’s Dealing With The Loss Of Her Birth Father. After Astrid Has A Ghost Encounter Of Her Own Lydia Finds Her Self Summoning Beetlejuice In An Unlikely Alliance To Find Her Whilst Beetlejuice Him Self Runs From An Ex Whose Playing For Keeps.

Admittedly The Idea Of A Sequel When They Announced It Seemed Kind Of “Strange And Unusual” As It Were Since The Original Seemed Final Enough. But As Burton Stayed Hell Bent On Keeping Michael Keaton In The Lead Role Along With Winona Ryder And Trailers Kept Popping Up I Was Intrigued.

And Thankfully The Movie Was Better Than I Could Have Ever Hoped. This Was An Absolute Blast And I’m Happy I Saw It In Theaters. So Let’s Get Into This Long Awaited Sequel Because… “It’s Showtime.”

This Will Be Spoiler Free.

“The Good.”

The Best Way To Sum Up This Movie Is “Classic Burton.” Every Frame Just Oozes Over In More Ways Than One With His Old School Style. It Has All The Trimmings From The Raw Handmade Effects Which Were Mostly Practical To The Aesthetic And Tone To The Dark Yet Whimsical Sense Of Humor.

Watching It Gave Me A True Sense Of Joy Not Felt For A Legacy Sequel Since “Ghostbusters Afterlife.” You Could Tell Burton Made This A True Passion Project 36 Years In The Making.

As For Our Main Cast We Have Some Newcomers As Well As Old Favorites That Are Given Time To Shine. And They Do A Damn Good Job Of It Too. Starting With Our Leads Lydia Deetz And Astrid Played By Winona Ryder And Jenna “Wednesday” Ortega. They Are The Driving Force For The Film Where Both Have Drifted Apart Since Astrid’s Father Richard Died And Lydia’s Own Father Charles Dies Recently.

There Is A Character Arch Of Course Where Both Characters Try To Rekindle Their Family And For The Most Part It’s Handled Well. Winona Ryder Is Excellent As A More Aged Lydia Who Despite Every Thing Cares About Astrid Enough To Run Through Hell For Her. Literally.

As For Jenna Ortega While On The Surface May Seem Like A Lydia 2.0 Is A Good New Addition And You Feel For Her As Much As Her Mom Given She Grieves For Her Dad. It’s Good Also To See Burton Using Jenna After The Success Of “Wednesday.” (Which I Need To Catch Up On.)

Then Of Course There’s Every Body’s Favorite Bio Exorcist Beetlejuice Played Once Again By Michael Keaton. And Man It Was So Good To See Him Again. Beetlejuice Is Great As Always And Every Moment Is A Scene Stealer. You Could Tell Michael Keaton Eased Back Into The Role As If He Never Left It. Once Again The Make Up Is Fantastic. Even After 36 Years I Still Find It Hard To Believe That’s Michael Keaton Under That Make Up And Hair.

We Also Get Catherine O’hara As Deelia Deetz And Much Like Keaton Catherine Hasn’t Lost That Charm. She Also Serves As The Much Needed Motivation For Lydia After Astrid Gets Fed Up With Her Mom.

We Also Get Some New Ghosts Such As Delores An Old Ex Of Beetlejuice’s Who’s Out For Revenge And Not Wanting To Spoil Any Thing But She’s Not To Be Fucked With. Monica Belluci Is Great As This Seductive Yet Villainous Character And Her Stapled Together Look Evokes A Very Frankensteinian Feel.

Then There’s Willem Dafoe As Wolf Jackson A Former B Movie Star Who Played A Detective Who Leads The Afterlife Police Force. He Has A Very Distinct Film Noir Quality To His Character As This Hardboiled Private Eye Or More Accurately This Guy Playing A Private Eye. And Willem Dafoe Makes For A Fun Performance As This Manic Screwball.

And As I Said The Film Keeps The Same Darkly Whimsical Tone The Original Has And We Get Plenty Of Nods And Callbacks Such As There Being Multiple Versions Of The Shrunken Head Guy That Work For Beetlejuice.

The Most Trusted Being Bob Who Is The Second Banana To The Ghost With The Most. I Love Also How There’s A Deliberate B Movie Feel To The Designs. Burton Could’ve Easily Made Them With CGI But Opted Instead To Have Them Clearly Be Guys Wearing Shoulder Braces And Fake Heads On Top.

And It Doesn’t Stop There Either. The Sandworm Returns And Is Made With Stop Motion Which Is Such A Treat To See Considering Practical Effects Are Making A Comeback In Horror.

The Film Also Sort Of Has A Similar Vibe To The “Beetlejuice” Cartoon With How The Characters Are Deliberately Hokey The Designs Of Some Of The Ghosts Are Cartoony And Beetlejuice And Lydia Sort Of Teaming Up. But Given It Has A PG-13 Rating It Also Has More On An Edge Than The First Movie And Has Some Moments Of Gore And Slightly More Swearing Than Before.

And It Earns The Rating. Usually With A PG-13 Horror Movie It’s A Two Way Road. On One Hand A Good PG-13 Horror Movie Does Exist. (Look At “Five Nights At Freddy’s” Or “Killer Klowns From Outer Space.”) But The Worst That Could Happen Is It Could Feel Toned Down Like Say “Poltergeist 2015” Or “Black Christmas 2019” Or Have The Rating For Stupid Reasons Other Than For A Queef Joke Like “Ghostbusters 2016.”

But Not This Movie. They Don’t Hold Back With The More Shocking Bits And I’m There For It.

Also Minor Spoiler But I Also Love How Lydia Towards The End Of A Ghost Hunting Show She Does Talks To The Audience And Thanks Them For The Dedication. It’s As Though Winona Ryder Is Thanking Us The Fans For Waiting All These Years For This Sequel To Happen.

Lastly The Score By Danny Elfman Is Phenomenal As Always And The Updated Version Of The Familiar Theme Was Amazing To Hear In Theaters. I Was Bouncing In My Seat In Excitement. Truly Worth The Wait And I’d Do It Again.

“The Mixed.”

I’ll Try Not To Spoil These Bits A Whole Lot. There Is One Character That I Thought Would Have A Bigger Connection To Delores That Would Lead Astrid Right To Her When The Twist Comes About But Really Doesn’t Connect To That. I Would Say It Could’ve Been Cut Out But We Did Need To Get The Ball Rolling Some How Between Beetlejuice And Lydia.

There Are Also A Lot Of Different Plots Happening At Once Which Isn’t Too Hard To Keep Up With But Can Be A Little Disorienting At Times. They Do Come Together By The End But It Could’ve Been Trimmed A Little.

Lastly I’m Not Sure That I’d Recommend Kids Watching This. Not So Much Older Kids Ages 14 To 15 Or More But Younger Kids About Ages 10 To 12 Because As Stated This Goes All In On The Fucked Up Elements. Even More Than The Original. Which Incidentally Would Be PG-13 Today. So Maybe Don’t Bring Kids Younger Than 14 Or Older To See This.

“The Overall.”

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Is A Surprising Film And A Damn Good Sequel. From Great Performances From Old Schoolers Michael Keaton Winona Ryder And Catherine O’hara And Newcomers Jenna Ortega Willem Dafoe And Monica Belluci To That Classic Burton Feel With The Style Tone And Effects This Is A Must Watch For The Year. Seriously Don’t Wait.

Go See This Movie In Theaters. You Won’t Regret It. I’ll Do A Spoiler Review Some Day When It’s On Blu Ray But For Now It’s A Solid 5/5 For Me. With That It Calls For Celebration. Hit It!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kMXBJW1PuU8&pp=ygUQanVtcCBpbiB0aGUgbGluZQ%3D%3D

What Do You Think?