'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' review: Tim Burton's ghoulish sequel fails to revive series

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

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Trying to reinvigorate his creative roots following a string of theatrical misses, Tim Burton, like most of Hollywood these days, is cashing in on a piece of valuable IP that miraculously stayed untouched for 30+ years. Perhaps it should have stayed that way. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” falls into the same doldrums most legacy sequels find themselves in: struggling to make a case for their existence. If you’re going to make a follow-up to something that most people cherish, you better have the goods to deliver, and considering how long Burton and his macho-leading man Michael Keaton let this languish in development hell as they kept tinkering the script, it’s a disappointment all we’re left with is another lousy sequel high on production values and practical effects, but low on actual creative flourish. 

It’s evident Burton is trying to exemplify all the weird, strange, and bizarre quirks that elevated him to name brand recognition in the late eighties into the nineties. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has the look and feel of his earlier films and it’s clear the filmmaker tried to use as minimal CGI as possible, a refreshing change of pace in the digital age of using digital tools to fix minor problems. Burton has spared no expense either. The sets are divine, Danny Elfman returns for a swooning score, and the vibes couldn’t be more apt to kick off the fall season. 

Where “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” fails, however, is trying to stitch together a cohesive story that doesn’t spin and sputter into several different, convoluted directions. It’s almost as if screenwriters Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Seth Grahame-Smith needed to unleash 35 years of pent up demand and load up the narrative with more subplots and fan service than it could handle. That’ll work on some audiences, but when you remember the earnest, sweet energy of what Burton captured in 1988, they might just be eager to go home and rewatch that one instead. 

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” picks up with the formerly rebellious Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) now using her gifts of speaking to the dead as the catalyst for a popular television program. Her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is still the same, pretentious artist while her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) wants nothing to do with the family lineage or her slimy business manger boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux). They’ve all been conveniently brought together by the death of patriarch and avid bird watcher Charles (played in the original by Jeffrey Jones, but who is now a convicted sex offender, and forces the movie to be sculpted around his absence). 

In the underworld, Keaton’s ghost-with-the-most Betelgeuse, who hasn’t lost his predatory touch nor his raunchy attitude, is being pursued by an old flame named Delores (Monica Bellucci) who wants to devour his soul (the origin of their relationship is told via a black-and-white flashback inspired by the likes of Italian legend Mario Bava). Funnily enough, Delores is also being hunted by William Dafoe’s Wolf Jackson, a former actor now deceased who runs a private detective firm.

The rules, as it pertains to summoning the fiendish ghoul, are the same. You say “Beetlejuice” three times and voila, he’ll appear and after the events of last time, Lydia understandably wants to avoid resurrecting him, but when Astrid finds herself in imminent danger, she has no choice but to adhere to his contractual demands, which, of course, involves matrimony. 

Keaton clearly enjoys getting back in this saddle, and hasn’t lost his edge when playing the titular character. He brings the zany irreverence that’s helped sustain Beetlejuice over the years. From halloween costumes to a Broadway musical. But the uneven script often gives way for scattershot bits and stagnant visual gags, never picking a lane and finding a rhythm. Near the start of the film, you’d assume the filmmakers were establishing Delores as a major baddie only to keep her sidelined on a silly mission to find Betelgeuse that loses all steam by the time we reach the finale that involves an unmemorable dance number. 

In the past, we’ve grown accustomed to being disappointed by long-in-the works sequels, but there had been a few recently (“Halloween,” “Hocus Pocus,” and “Scream”) that offered a faint glimmer of hope where, with the right creative talent behind the scenes, perhaps lightning could strike. It’s very obvious after watching “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the original was clearly a movie of the moment. This one, unfortunately, does not live up to that legacy. 

Grade: C

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE opens in theaters Friday, September 6th.