Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

There were about a million reasons to be suspicious of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice during its production and marketing, including our glut of nostalgia-baiting legacy sequels and the fact that Tim Burton has been in a slump for a very long time. But there were also some glimmers of hope, bits in the trailers or clips released online that suggested the movie might actually be pretty fun. And what do you know, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is pretty good, the best movie Burton has made in over a decade and one of the more enjoyable blockbuster movies I've seen in 2024. I don't wanna oversell the film too much as the script is very messy, overstuffed and lacking a core focus, and it also isn't all that fundamentally removed from the memberberries style nostalgia I've bemoaned in lesser legacy sequels. There are two main factors which distinguish Beetlejuice Beetlejuice however. The first is that the movie feels like it was fueled by a real passion and desire to return to this world beyond cynically reselling an old IP. Burton in particularly feels reenergized not just in working with more practical effects, sets, and make-up (while still augmented by modern vfx) but in making a dark comedy again. That gleefully meanspirited streak the man used to have before he inexplicably became a director of blockbuster family films is back in full force. It might even be stronger than ever. The way the film handles Jeffrey Jones character is hilarious on the surface and frankly even funnier when you know why he isn't here. Which is leads to the second factor which distinguishes Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: it's really funny. I laughed pretty consistently throughout with a couple of bits leaving me really cackling. Part of this is that the cast has not lost a step, with Michael Keaton in particular feeling like he came right out of the 80s (the make-up no doubt helps) and others like Catherine O'Hara getting an extended showcase. Even the new character played by Willem Dafoe, who is kind of pointless overall, is so funny that it ultimately doesn't matter. Which is true to the film's overall screenplay. It's loose and a little sloppy, sure, but for a comedy like this that more thrives as a series of visual gags, punchlines, and comedic performances, that's a-okay.

It certainly helps that Beetlejuice is a lot less plundered than a Ghostbusters or Indiana Jones as far as 80s IPs go but beyond that I think Beetlejuice Beeltejuice generally delivers the goods. It's fun. And maybe it's a little bit more than that. I can't believe it's simply coincidence that Burton has made a movie about a weird goth who used her idiosyncrasies to become massively successful while also selling out to a corporate machine and losing her edge and identity after decades where he himself increasingly sold-out to big corporate money while making increasingly artless works which only superficially resembled his early triumphs. Lydia and Burton each get their mojo back by returning to Beetlejuice. Will this mark a turning point for Burton's career? Time will tell, but I am hopeful because this legacy sequel wasn't just about returning to an IP, but the styles and sensibilities which made that original film and its director so exciting at one point.

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