Perhaps the most frustrating thing overall about Tim Burton’s latest effort, the long awaited lega-sequel to his 80’s classic Beetlejuice is just to what extent the core of a really great film is hiding somewhere amongst the film we got. It is no new knowledge to most people that through the years there have been several attempts and several scripts to try and get a sequel off the ground and the great weight on this final 2024 effort is that it seems every single one of those ideas has been forced into this film rather than picking the best and going from there.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a film that is a departure in many ways from the majority of soft reboots, which normally flounder under the weight of a lack of originality, however in this case Burton suffocates under far too much originality – the film balances its legacy characters with a bevy of new original creations that all for the most part are enjoyable, the issue is that each of these creations and characters comes with their own sub-plot and ends up by the end desperately feeling overwhelming. The screenplay is credited to Alfred Gough and Miles Millar with a further story credit by Seth Grahame-Smith and it does indeed feel like each of them brought their crack at a sequel idea and instead of delegation went with the logic that the first film is also overstuffed with ideas in so many ways. But then we return to the lightening in a bottle aspect that makes so many of these ‘greatest films ever’ work, which is that all of the mess and mania of the first film lends to the film working in spite of its very nature. Now this is not to say that this film doesn’t work, because this is a mostly positive review and I did indeed have a great time with the film and it does feel like a steady return to form for one of the most creatively influential directors in my movie going life. However, one can’t deny the core messiness of the film and the lack of satisfying resolution so many of these plots and characters receive. Now where the film’s creativity narratively does come into joyous effect is in how the film deals in respect to outside forces on the film such as crimes committed by actors in the intervening years, with a darkly blissful and unrelenting depiction of a death. But then the film without spoiling too much shuns away the return of other characters with a flippant line of empty dialogue, followed by a metatextual wink to the camera delivery of “well that’s convenient”. There are many core flaws with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and yet although it doesn’t work in spite of itself to the level of genuine masterpiece that the first film does, we do still end up with Burton’s talented hand finally returning to the mould and delivering once more.
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Of the three returning
figures Keaton of course steals the show by virtue of the sheer lack of
alteration that seems to have occurred in the intervening thirty odd years
since the first film, now of course that is down to the makeup playing a huge
factor, but the simple fact that underneath all that makeup the vocal quality
and physicality of the performance has hardly changed is a tremendous feat. It
is however in the change of the many years where Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara
make their own mark in the film as the film makes the right choice to utilise
small doses of Keaton rather than doubling the dosage. Ryder and O’Hara are both
stellar and exactly how their characters feel like they would end up, with
careful focus on aging without losing capability to employ the great comedic energy
that they utilised so well in the original and projects since. Jenna Ortega
leads the new ensemble and is not perhaps given as much to do as she has been
in other films of her recent oeuvre, but is still makes for a charming and fitting
entry into the world. Where the film excels however is with its new additions
and the many ways Burton returns so seamlessly into the world of practical
effects and makeup – a glorious triumph of creations and effects that for me I
could simply not get enough of. Character wise Monica Belluci’s Delores is
perhaps the most disappointing, appearing as a scene stealing diva only to have
absolutely no bearing on the plot at all. Willen Dafoe’s Wolf Jackson is a
little more woven into the plot and so his great performance and character
doesn’t need the addendum of it being narratively useless, which Bellucci unfortunately
does have to suffer. Justin Theroux is the newest character with the most to do
and does great work with it, although his character is more or less transparent
and not exactly the reveal the writers may have thought he could have been, he
still has many of the funniest lines not possessed by Keaton. And possessed by
Keaton at times the film can feel, but this time Burton once again feels like
he’s at the wheel and back to the tactility of his successes.
A glorious 7/10 with many, many flaws that on the other hand shuns the tired conventions of the typical soft reboot and overstuffs to no end leaving a final bizarre product that leaves one pondering about quality, but never pondering enjoyment. This is a long awaited return to form for Burton that one can only hope will continue, even if it is not exactly the purest of visions that he became famous for, it remains a solid calling card hopefully for things to come. Keaton, Ryder and O’Hara lead a fine trio of returning figures into a messy broth of subplots and new original characters – all of which are genuinely entertaining and work for me as a viewer, just don’t perhaps work together for a cohesive and above average film.
P.S. The use of the music from Carrie at the end was a dead glorious give away for me that worked tremendously well, but does somewhat lean into the further foibles of this film relying in part on influence a little too much.
- Thomas Carruthers
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