Comedy

Film review, by Jason Day, of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), the sequel to the anarchic 1988 comedy about a young girl who summons a long-dead man to help her in her personal life. Starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.

Synopsis

‘The name in laughter from the hereafter’ Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) – an undead ruffian on ‘the other side’ returns to do battle with the enemies of his former intended, mortal bride Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) when he daughter (Jenna Ortega) is seduced and taken to the underworld.

Review, by @Reelreviewer

Actor Jeffrey Jones is famous for two things. Firstly, his appearances in 80’s classics Amadeus (1984), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and (ahem) Howard the Duck (also 1986).

The second is his child sex offences. Back in 2002, he was arrested for taking explicit photos of an underage boy, then years later, failed to update his sex offender register status. These crimes have rendered him unemployable; as of today (16 March 2025), he has no film or TV credits since 2019.

The reason I’ve opened this review about him is that he casts a long shadow over the sequel to another of his 80’s hits. Jones doesn’t appear in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice but his character – amateur zoologist Charles Deetz – does. Charles is central to the movie and we see ‘him’ throughout, in animation form and later as a lumbering latex-like model cut in half. Charles has been eaten by a shark, you see (the top half, so there’s no face).

Is Burton – who has worked with Jones in other movies – punishing his disgraced former pal by using an on-screen death? He could have easily worked around him.

Maybe and who could blame him?

But back to the main show. Charles’ goth daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) who, thanks to her supernatural encounter with the debauched demon Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), is now grown-up and the star of a version of UK TV’s Most Haunted‘s. She’s the US Yvette Fielding, no less. She’s got her own, popular telly show and, like Fielding, is doing rather well out of conning her audience about supposedly ghostly goings on.

Unlike Fielding, Lydia can see dead people, a superpower not lost on her estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) or flaky socialite stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara). Delia likewise has gone up in the world – her experimental art has seen a serious uptick of interest (if not quality) since Beetlejuice haunted her into singing Harry Belafonte’s calypso classic ‘Jump in the Line’…with dinner guests including TV chat show legend Dick Cavett and actor/singer Robert Goulet.

Delia is a lynchpin of New York’s arts scene and O’Hara – flushed with recent critical appreciation after the success of TV’s Schitt’s Corner – revels in this big-screen return. Along with Justin Theroux as Lydia’s horror of a man-bun sporting, self-absorbed TV producer beau, she is one of two continuously delightful star turns.

And they are welcome additions indeed because, despite the huge anticipation and excitement generated up to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s release, the finished result is a deathly imitation of its forbear.

There are good things in it – those cast members above plus sexy Monica Belucci and some amazing make-up, the neon wonderland of the underworld production design is fabulous, music and cinematography are gorgeous, Elfman also returns with great, atmospheric music – but the first movie looms large over the proceedings.

But it takes an age to get going and when it does, it feels laboured and trepidatious, there’s a stilted feeling as if everyone is walking on eggshells, lest they upset the memory of the 1988 film.

Ryder seems down-at-mouth and even the normally reliable Keaton is more a ‘dawg from the morgue’ than ‘the name in laughter from the hereafter.’

We do, of course, need to bear in mind that those returning souls are now 36 years older (sadly, with the passing of the decades, there’s also no Sylvia Sidney, who was splendid as afterlife caseworker Juno) but should the megaphone duties have been passed onto the younger generation, someone with as much vim and vigour as Burton back in’t day?

I say this as an admirer of Burton’s work, especially his earlier films, but his latest lacks his usual sparkle and nutty energy. It’s like he’s sat in the director’s chair napping with his trotters up. Hopefully, he gets it together again for his next ‘Wizard of Odd’ outing.

See the official Warner Bros. UK website for more.

Cast & credits

Director: Tim Burton. 1hr 45mins/ 105mins. Warner Bros./French Film Company/Plan B Entertainment/The Geffen Company/Tim Burton Productions/Tommy Harper Productions. (12a).

Producers: Tim Burton, Dede Gardner, Tommy Harper, Jeremy Kleiner, Marc Toberoff.
Writers: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar.
Camera: Haris Zambarloukos.
Music: Danny Elfman.
Sets: Mark Scruton.

Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Nick Kellington, Santiago Cabrera, Danny DeVito, Amy Nuttall.