“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the thrilling sequel to 1988’s “Beetlejuice,” is “strange and unusual” itself, perfectly capturing the bizarreness of the first film and putting its own modern spin on it as the characters navigate their way through the peculiar of the afterlife.
This movie has a phenomenal cast and includes familiar faces like Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse and Cathrine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, all of whom were in the first movie.
In addition to the reprised roles, actors Jenna Ortega and Justin Theroux joined the cast for the film. Also joining the cast is Monica Bellucci, who plays Betelgeuse’s vengeful, undead ex-wife and acts as the villain rather than Betelgeuse who was the first film’s ghostly antagonist.
Like the first movie, the sequel is set in Winter River, Connecticut and returns to the same quirky home, now occupied solely by the Deetz family. Lydia, the classic goth teen, is now an adult. She is forced to team up with Betelgeuse, the crude, mischievous poltergeist, to save her family.
It was more than pleasant to see Keaton and Ryder return to their roles as the dynamic duo from the original. Like the first movie, Lydia and Betelgeuse have many action-packed, yet hilarious scenes together.
One of these particularly amusing scenes is when Betelgeuse explains how he still wishes to marry Lydia, even keeping a picture of her while hoping for a reappearance in the human world.
The plot of the film alone is heartwarming and quite endearing while still playing up the same kooky energy of the first film.
The music and set design really brought this movie to life (or death). Hearing the “Main Title Theme” by Danny Elfman, a slightly modernized version of the 1988 version is goosebump-inducing and transports the entire theater back into the original film.
There are also little clips of soundtrack throughout the film that are recognizable. The new soundtrack is a funky, modern twist on the classic soundtrack from “Beetlejuice.”
The brilliant soundtrack also works to form some of the most iconic scenes in the movie. The iconic “Day-O” musical number from “Beetlejuice,” featuring Lydia’s possessed family and their dinner guests, was inspiration for yet another phenomenal musical number towards the end of the film.
Lydia, her stepmother Delia and Lydia’s daughter Astrid are all among the possessed in a hilarious lip-sync dance number to the song MacArthur Park by Richard Harris. The return of lip-syncing and ridiculous dancing to the sequel was the cherry on top of this outstanding film.
Set design is something that can be hard to perfect, sometimes it is too bland or not extravagant enough. It can also differ from the viewer’s vision, especially when it is a sequel that takes place decades later, but I believe that “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” did perfect it.
Seeing the familiar set from the first movie is enough to hook any “Beetlejuice” fan and it kept the movie somewhere between being completely new and reminiscent of the old movie.
The plot goes through a few known locations from the first movie like the Maitland’s house and the waiting room when one first enters the afterlife, but it also expands into more locations in the afterlife that hadn’t been uncovered before.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a phenomenal movie that is a perfect mix of the essence of the old movie and the modern world and problems that arise in Lydia’s adult life.
The movie’s name may be what had me the most excited after the movie dropped in theaters. The poltergeist Betelgeuse is summoned when you call his name three times. If this movie title is the second declaration of his name, a third movie of the same nature can only be greatly anticipated.