“Beetlejuice” was a formative movie for me in a lot of ways. I vividly remember seeing it in the theater, as it was the first movie I saw on the big screen without “adult supervision.”
A friend and I were dropped off at the local multiplex and left to our own devices. “Beetlejuice” was also the first movie where I remember having expectations based on a filmmaker’s previous work.
I knew that “Beetlejuice” was “made by the same guy” who made “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” which I considered at the time (and still do, for that matter) to be one Westen Civilization’s greatest artistic achievements. I also knew that Michael Keaton was the Dad from “Mr. Mom,” a beloved, video-store-night staple for the DeKinder family.
I was certainly primed, but my 10-year-old mind was still blown by the odd, creepy, slightly-scary, mostly-hilarious movie that was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
A lot has changed over the past 36 years, but I’ve spent a lot of time since then in movie theater seats chasing that thrill of seeing something so thoroughly vibrant and original for the very first time.
This sets the table for both the joy and inherent flaw of “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,” a pretty well-executed legacy sequel.
A lot of the old ingredients are still pretty tasty, as Keaton slides back into the character like 1988 was yesterday. When Beetlejuice is cooking as a true agent of chaos, the movie takes flight.
The other returning faces fare well here too, as Winona Ryder returns as an all-grown-up Lydia Deetz dealing with her own estranged and sullen teenaged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Catherine O’Hara also triumphantly returns as Delia, Lydia’s step-mother who still pursues an art career with her questionable talents.
Director Tim Burton seems more at home than he has in years by returning to a familiar sandbox and favoring the practical effects of the original film over a computer-generated mis-mash that has dominated his later work.
There’s probably one side plot too many, but for the most part, “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” succeeds as a movie in all of the ways the original did.
But therein lies the rub. While there are some sparks of inspiration, novelty and outright lunacy, a lot of the movie simply echoes the original. (Small town New England setting? Check. Bad guys dispatched by a Saturnian sandworm? Check. A musical number set to a quirky song performed by characters against their will? Check and check.)
All of those ingredients make “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” good, but because we’ve seen a lot of it before, it can’t match the daring originality that made “Beetlejuice” great.
At the very least, Beetlejuice as a character is still a great hang all these years later and taking in his ghoulishly demented antics is still a treat, no matter what decade it is.
“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” is rated PG-13 for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use.
