Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

[The Joker]

[Silver Nemesis]

Michael Keaton interviews Beetlejuice.

According to People magazine, Keaton wants to use his real name for future acting credits. Henceforth he's going to be credited as Michael Keaton Douglas: https://people.com/michael-keaton-real-name-michael-douglas-start-using-it-exclusive-8705257

[The Dark Knight]

I wanted to love this movie, but I have to be honest. I thought the movie was average. For a movie under two hours there's quite a bit I'd cut out, some of the humor didn't land and plot points aren't satisfactorily resolved. The first movie had a great flow where this one has too much going on. I didn't really like how Beetlejuice was portrayed either, and that's not a slight on Keaton at all. He's good with what he's given. He's a bit too helpful and jokey for my liking. I'm giving it 6/10. Not terrible but not great either.

[thecolorsblend]

Your comment is literally the only response I've seen to the movie.

But it sounds like Beetlejuice's characterization is slightly closer to the cartoon show. In the show, I remember him being portrayed as a basically good-hearted ne'er do well and sidekick for Lydia. Is that sort of how he's done in the movie?

[The Dark Knight]

I never saw the cartoon but yeah, that's pretty much what he's like. An edge is missing. He's also not built up to because we see him early on, and in a fairly regular way. So when he does appear from the model later (this scene is in the trailers) there isn't any mystique. It feels too common to me. Burton gives a lot of screen time to plot points that aren't really interesting. There's a twist with a character, but I don't think it justifies that level of focus. I'd be okay with cutting about two or three characters. I think there was a decent movie in there if it was streamlined into something more focused. Belucci and Dafoe for example are standouts but they're let down by the script. It's a bummer to type this, but I'm being real about it.

[Silver Nemesis]

Belucci and Dafoe for example are standouts but they're let down by the script.

That's disappointing to hear. The writers have had over a decade to perfect the script, so that was one aspect of the film I was hoping would deliver.

The general response I've seen online is that the new movie's ok, but not the return to form Burton fans were hoping for. I'm not sure if I'll catch it in theatres. I might if I get time. It's off to a strong start at the box office though and is expected to pass $100 million by the end of the weekend.

Here's a video exploring the darker original version of Beetlejuice, back when it was intended to be a pure horror movie. The video also covers the lengthy development history of the sequel.

[The Dark Knight]

That's disappointing to hear. The writers have had over a decade to perfect the script, so that was one aspect of the film I was hoping would deliver.

The general response I've seen online is that the new movie's ok, but not the return to form Burton fans were hoping for.

That's indeed the case. It's just okay. There was enough content here for at least two sequels, but they jumbled every together and rushed it at the end. If Burton chose one strand and followed that it would've been a better experience in my opinion. That's the frustrating part about the film because there are good concepts here. The first movie was tightly edited with hardly any fat, being a focused story that the sequel just isn't.

Justin Theroux didn't work for me at all. I didn't like Jenna Ortega or her extended story with Arthur Conti's character either. I also didn't connect with Catherine O'Hara this time or what they did with her. It came off more annoying and exaggerated than genuinely funny, and that goes for quite a lot of the humor too. I think I would've cut those things away completely and had it centred around Belucci - hot as hell, and a great concept but completely underused, Dafoe - brilliantly funny, Ryder and Keaton.

Follow that story and it would've been much better. I do hope it has a strong box office though. I don't hate it. More disappointed by what could've and probably should've been.

[Gotham Knight]

I enjoyed the movie, but it has one big issue, one that is frustrating because it was a simple fix. The thing is, like most modern films it's messy and unfocused, but as I already mentioned, it was an easy fix that wouldn't have required anything but a few cuts and a little re-balancing (more Winter River stuff) to save the day. I don't even think you'd have to shoot new material. I'll code the rest in black because spoilers:

Delores could be dropped entirely and it would improve my 6.9 rating to about an 8. She wonders around and has almost no impact on anything. In fact, if I didn't know better I'd say she was a late addition via reshoots. I know that isn't the case, but the way she is incorporated into the film makes her feel that way. The one way she impacts the film is by demystifying Beetlejuice by having him enter the film way too early and in such a mundane way that it kills the build that they are clearly trying to create in the 'real' world where Lydia sees psychic flashes of the ghost with most and all of it culminating in the 'couples therapy' scene in the model. The thing is this works if you gut the Delores stuff. As it stands Beetlejuice has to be introduced much earlier because he is tasked with doing the heavy lifting to set up Delores as a character. Without her, the story could focus more intently on Astrid and her mom/dad/Jeremy issues (the strongest part of the film), and it would better focus the Dafoe character as the guy chasing after Beetlejuice, who is still a criminal on the run. In that way he could be better used as a heavy who troubles the Deetz's in the afterlife as he seeks to put the cuffs on BJ once and for all.

The only other issue I had was the Maitlands. I long suspected (decades) that a BJ sequel would unavoidably  suffer without Babs and Adam...and it does. The absence is palpable and the film doesn't help itself brushing past them in literal nanoseconds. The Maitland issue needed a proper scene. One that could have been furnished if we didn't have to spend time watching Delores amble down empty hallways. 
 
Anyway, I still liked it, and feel like it is one of Burton's better recent outings. He doesn't have a lot of wins, If anything I'm just glad that this movie is a bonafied financial blockbuster having already smoked it's budget in the first weekend.

[The Dark Knight]

Fair comments, GK. I know how excited you were about this. I'm happy about the financial side of things as well. For all my issues about some of the sequel's narrative choices, you can't deny it's a legitimate continuation. The original director, composer, cast and locations all return.

I like it but I'm not a devout fan of the first movie.

I am now. Rewatching it again and seeing the sequel has made me love that first movie like never before. I don't hate Keatonjuice II but it nonetheless brought the first film's strengths into focus even more. I appreciate not just the concept but the way it's paced and made just as much. The films we grew up with were genuinely good and it wasn't all rose tinted glasses.

The attic and the Winter River miniature feels something like the visitor centre from Jurassic Park in terms of a nostalgic blanket. Seeing it again was beautifully sad to me, especially when Lydia went up there alone. I had chills throughout that whole scene, starting from when Lydia begins walking up the steps. Knowing the Maitlands used to stand right there but they've since moved on, and that place has been silent a long, long time.

[The Joker]

I checked this out several weeks ago, and "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" was decent enough I guess, but it came across like two-three different scripts of a Beetlejuice sequel all mashed into one.

There's enough to like about it, but it's pretty much 'sequences within the film' that will be memorable for some, and not the entirety of the movie itself. As it's way too many characters, and way too many subplots for the film to really hold up on it's own. Truthfully, with so many characters/subplots, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" might have greatly benefited as a HBO Max (or isn't it just Max now? lol) series, rather than a movie. Though, it's perfectly understandable Tim Burton wanting to make a sequel movie, over another series. I prefer movies myself, but as is, it's a bit too cluttered. "Ghostbusters Frozen Empire" suffered from the same exact problem. A little too ambitious for the allotted running time. With both resulting in being undoubtedly cluttered, but still managing to have moments of fun.

Personally, I was kinda surprised just how much the character of Charles Deetz actually appears/referenced throughout the entire film. Kinda figured it would've been addressed, and then quickly moved on from, but no. Not really. Considering the actor's real life detestable issues, that would have been the expected route to take, but Burton, apparently, made some sort of compromise and it is what it is.

I liked seeing Willem Dafoe, but he's another one of those characters where if he was completely omitted, I don't honestly think you would lose all that much, and as much as I liked seeing the lovely Monica Bellucci in this as Beetlejuice's ex-wife, Delores, it's the same thing. If had been some plan for a trilogy, Delores could have easily been saved for the third film (perhaps retaining the flashback scene with her and juice, but that's about it), which like Dafoe, would have helped with the overstuffed amount of subplots and characters.

Despite my thoughts that the film came no where near the original, and is decent/OK, I'm glad it's having success at the box office. To be perfectly honest, it's somewhat surprising to see that Keaton's return as Beetlejuice is having much more impact than his return as Batman just last year, but admittedly, Keaton's return as Batman was incredibly mismanaged by Warners.