Dog’s Movie House: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Rousing Sequel To Original Classic!

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” picks up nearly four decades after the events of the first film. Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), now a mother of her own, is able to see ghosts since her experience with Beetlejuice all those years ago, but her life is anything but ideal. She hosts a “Ghost Finders” talk show but is estranged from her teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega.) When news of the death of Charles Deetz (played in the original by Jefferey Jones) reaches the family, everyone heads back to Winter River for the memorial. The participants include Charles’ widow Delia (Catherine O’Hara in one of the film’s funniest performances), Lydia, Astrid, along with Lydia’s passive/aggressive New Age spouting producer Rory (a wonderfully despicable Justin Theroux). Meanwhile, Beetlejuice (Keaton) now in charge of a small section of the afterlife, is still pining over Lydia. He also has a problem: his former wife, a witch named Delores (Monica Bellucci) has resurrected herself and is soul-sucking her way back to Beetlejuice for a good dose of revenge. These two plot threads come together when Astrid is tricked into traveling to the netherworld and Lydia is forced to ask Beetlejuice for his help in rescuing her daughter.

Burton looks like he’s having the most fun he’s had in years behind the camera, clearly delighted to play in the world he helped create. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s script seemlessly weaves beats from the original into the new story forming a wonderful story that feels natural despite the 36 years between films. Burton relies on many of the same wonderful practical effects here that worked so well in the original movie. There’s also not one, but two, possessed sing alongs that give “Day-O” a run for its money. You’ll never hear “McCarthur Park” the same way again, I promise you!

The performances are all spot one, with Keaton again poking at the funny bone as the politically incorrect, incorrigable bio-exorcist. Seriously, it’s like he never left and Keaton just kills it with his comic timing. Ryder matches him as a broken woman who’s trying to keep her life together even to the point of trying to deny the events of her childhood may have been simply delusions. She spends much of the film as a fragile woman and watching her regain her strength is one of the movie’s greatest pleasures. Ortega continues her hot streak as Astrid, and Catherine O’Hara is a hoot as Delia. She’s just as crazy as in the first film, but her way with a verbal jab has only sharpened with age and many of her lines are the ones that get the biggest laughs. Of the newcomers, Theroux is a hoot as Rory, a dipstick everyone can see through except the broken Lydia, and Bellucci provides her unique combination of seductiveness and malevolence as Delores. Also very good is Willem Defoe as an dead actor turned afterlife cop and Arthur Conti as Jeremy, a neighborhood boy who befriends Astrid but has a secret or two of his own.

The movie’s pacing is excellent and the set pieces even more complex then in the original film. If there is one notable difference between the two films, it’s the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” earns it’s PG-13 rating. It’s quite a bit more violent than the original PG-rated film with a couple of sequences (including a couple with Baby Beetlejuice) that raised my eyebrows a bit. It’s not too bad, but it’s definitely a little more than I was expecting. That said, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a wonderful film and a great continuation of a decade’s old classic that will reward multiple viewings and eventually become as beloved as the original! 4 1/2 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer! So Sayeth The Kendog!

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