Beetlejuice Beetlejuice movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

This creepy comedy sequel is now playing in theaters.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour 44 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B+

SPONSOR of Today’s movie review:

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IN A NUTSHELL:

Tim Burton definitely has a unique style with a huge following of fans and list of 20 popular films. Others might not like his quirky macabre content. Brad Pitt was one of the producers of this movie. Writing credits go to Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Seth Grahame-Smith.

Fans of the original Beetlejuice will get a kick out of this. We’ve waited 36 years for it! Already, the movie has won a Grafetta d’Oro award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, and been nominated by The Queerties for the 2024 “Next Big Thing” award, and nominated for “Most Anticipated Movie” by Astra Midseason Movie Awards.

THINGS I LIKED:

Who doesn’t love Michael Keaton? I’ve been a huge fan of his for years. He has created so many memorable characters throughout his career, Beetlejuice being one of them. In March 2014, he stated that this is the only sequel he was interested in ever doing. Of course, he DID reprise his role as Batman in a cameo in The Flash last year. He said that he had even more fun making this sequel of Beetlejuice than he did making the original movie. Tim Burton stated that Michael Keaton didn’t even rehearse before going on set to film!
The entire cast does a fantastic job and includes Willem Dafoe, Catherine O’Hara, Burn Gorman, Arthur Conti, Danny DeVito, and Justin Theroux.
All of the returning women look great in this! Winona Ryder was hoping this Beatlejuice sequel would happen, so she told Matt and Ross Duffer that they’d have to give her a break from filming “Stranger Things” if the filming created a scheduling problem. They said yes!
Monica Bellucci’s makeup took 3 hours each day before filming. She has an incredible backstory sequence. She and Tim Burton started dating during making of the movie.
We get a quick recap of all the main characters from the first movie to see what they’ve been up to.
Fans of Netflix’s Wednesday will absolutely love seeing Jenna Ortega in this. Director Tim Burton was the executive producer of Wednesday, which is what he said inspired him to create this sequel to the 1988 Beetlejuice film.
Fun soundtrack
Cool special effects and practical effects. Director Tim Burtin wanted to make sure there was less technology so the sequel would retain the same feel as the first movie. We see a lot of animatronics, puppets, and creative design.
The visual and spoken humor fly fast and furiously.
Lots of Easter eggs and nods to the original movie.
Fun fact: Wynona Ryder hosts a TV show in the movie called “Ghost House.” That was actually going to be the name of the original movie, but Tim Burton kept pushing for “Beetlejuice” until he got his way.
We get to hear the Banana Boat Song at a funeral in the movie. Nice touch!
Soul train. Ha ha We see people dressed in 1970s clothing, dancing to that decade’s popular music, as a joke that disco is dead.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Beetlejuice doesn’t even appear in the movie until almost 20 minutes.
Sadly, Geena Davis isn’t in this sequel.
Jeffrey Jones’ character conveniently dies in this sequel. Ironically, he has retired from acting because he was accused of being a sex offender in real life.
There are a lot of characters and story lines that get rushed.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Lots of creepy, bloody body parts
We see a lot of dead people in the form they died.
Talk of death and the afterlife.
Dark humor
Some inappropriate jokes

THEMES:

Death
Life after death
Family

FUNNY LINES:

“Well, you’re free to reject your inheritance when you’re living off a tree hugger’s salary.” – Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara)
“I love a good dream sequence.” – Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton)
“Should have got married in Vegas.” – Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton)

INTERESTING LINES:

“We need to unpack the art of sorrow!” – Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara)
“There is no expiry date on sorrow.” – Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara)
“I have spent so much time talking to the dead, it’s time I started living.” – Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder)
“I want to make memories with the people I love rather than be haunted by them later.” – Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder)