In an era of cheap sequels and low rotten tomato scores, one stands out this Halloween season: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the second installment to the cult classic Beetlejuice. Though it is nowhere near the original masterpiece of the eighties, the film has been able to capture what made its predecessor great.
Instead of creating a completely new storyline, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice created a sequel by answering questions that were left in the first movie. They brought back old actors and wrote off ones that couldn’t be in the movie, such as the Maitlands played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as well as Jeffrey Duncan Jones, who played Charles Deetz in the original movie. All three characters were still mentioned, and Jones also managed to play a role where his face would not be seen.
Another reason for the movie’s greatness is the continuation of Tim Burton as director, which kept the Burton style that made all his movies stand out from other directors. Burton did more as a director because he specifically hand-picked actors for this movie which is traditionally another director’s job. He introduced new characters into the universe by casting Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, daughter of Lydia Deetz and casted his wife as Dolores, Beeltejuice’s wife. The character was briefly mentioned in the original movie; but both were played perfectly and the actors did excellent jobs.
The sequel also kept the creepiness that made the first movie great due to the lack of CGI. Keeping most makeup and costuming production less edited as well as having beautiful designed sets instead of huge green screens, with the only exception being the giant worm scene that was recaptured through editing, was the right move
Although this movie is great, it is nonetheless a cash grab by Hollywood. Hollywood CEOs seem to forget that just because writers are behind the scenes their jobs are still vital to the movie process. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” tried to write two villains into the story and, although this tactic can be used well, neither antagonist got enough screen time to make them seem like serious threats. Although Jenna Ortega was great in this movie, her only character trait was that she hated her mom and it was only explained as she couldn’t see her late father. It seems that recently many female characters are one dimensional by giving them resentment towards another female character.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” left the franchise on a possible cliffhanger, and even though there is potential to have a third installment it will not be as well received as the second and first movie if it doesn’t have better writing.
