Beetlejuice Beetlejuice taps into the nostalgia that fans are longing for but still manages to forge its own creative path. Anyone who is thinking that is Keaton, Burton, and Ryder playing the “greatest hits”, is sadly mistaken. Often when it comes to these types of releases, studios will fumble the release and place them up against competition that is hard to overcome, Warner Brothers was very smart in how they handled this release. Objectively, this film doesn’t measure to the quality of the original. However, Burton’s film does deliver the beats of nostalgia that will draw fans to theaters, and takes the tale in a fresh direction. They also had this placed perfectly in the calendar (not much competition in September).
What will come as a shock to most, these films are not about the iconic character that Keaton. Beetlejuice is more of device used to move the story along. In fact, the amount of time of screen Keaton is on screen in each of the films is around 17 minutes. The 1st film is an exploration of marriage and death, while the sequel focuses on the interpersonal relationships and how they are impacted by death. Catherine O’Hara returns as Delia Deetz (Lydia’s mother). Jenna Ortega joins the ensemble as Astrid Dietz (Lydia’s daughter). Ortega is a large reason why the film works. O’Hara does steal most scenes she is in. If you feel this film will be a bit tamer and less weird than it’s original, my question is have you ever seen a Tim Burton field? Part of Burton is love of the bizarre. Keaton is of course brilliant as everyone’s favorite demon. The only question I have about this film, is when it dominates the box-office, will they green light a third one? Being that we live in a word where everything old is new again, it wouldn’t surprise me if they did.
Dewey Singleton has been reviewing new releases in television and film for many years. Dewey's reviews have been heard in both multiple markets (Houston and Atlanta). Dewey's past work has been with awardswatch.com, awardsradar.com, and bleeding cool. Dewey is a proud member of the CCA.