When people in suits proclaim there is going to be a sequel to something that is beloved by millions of viewers across the country and the world, I think the normal reaction to have now is, that’s bait. That’s desperate, that’s a cash grabby way to milk a viewer’s nostalgia and the result is rarely good. Coming 36 years after Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, we find our filmmaker in a very different place in his career. An up-and-comer in 1988, Burton would go onto make more cinematic magic with star Michael Keaton, with his series of Batman films, but would also make Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and a number of other very fondly remembered films. But his last film was Disney’s ill-fated 2019 remake of Dumbo. And he had been on something of a creative slump for years leading up to that. Now that he’s seemingly found new creative inspiration in Wednesday star Jenna Ortega, his long-discussed Beetlejuice sequel is finally hitting theaters. 

Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) hosts a paranormal talk show where she tries to reunite guests with the spirits of their deceased loved ones. Her manager/boyfriend (Justin Theroux) follows her around, seemingly much more interested in their relationship than she is. When Delia (Catherine O’Hara) calls to inform her of the death of her father, Lydia contacts her estranged daughter Astrid (Ortega) to attend his funeral and gather his belongings. Back in her childhood home, Lydia recalls the time a ‘trickster demon’, as she calls him, Beetlejuice (Keaton) terrorized the house and the lives of her family. And it turns out, that house is still very much haunted.

Lots to unpack here. Firstly, I will say Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a lot better than it has any right to be. Revisiting this material has clearly unlocked a crucial part of Burton’s creativity. His knack for weirdo, gross-out visuals, wildly zany humor and practical effects is, as it turns out, very much alive and intact. Where it’s less successful is the story, which is a big old mess, but I feel like that’s also in line with the first movie, which is also wildly disorganized and has way too much going on. And perhaps a tighter narrative would be the wrong choice. I feel like the wacky, macabre, delirious energy of the first film permeates through this one in a successful way. 

Winona Ryder steps back into the role of Lydia Deetz 36 years later as if no time has passed. Is it common for a goth teen to keep the exact same look from her teenage years, including a rather silly looking haircut, well into her 50s? Well, no, but considering where Lydia’s life has ended up, it’s not surprising that she hasn’t changed much. And it’s nice to see a legacy sequel where our original characters have done quite well for themselves, and they’re not all miserable shells of their former selves, as has been the trend in recent sequels like this. Ryder’s performance is very good, and she gets a lot to do here, most of which is not a waste of her time.

I enjoyed the attention paid to Lydia’s relationship with Catherine O’Hara’s Delia character, and how that’s evolved since the original film. We find O’Hara at a high point in her career after her work on the multiple Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek, and her character gets so much more to do in this, compared to the 1988 film, and O’Hara is great. And it feels like a no-brainer to have Jenna Ortega come in as Lydia’s daughter who is so reminiscent of her mother back in the day. She’s angsty, she’s clever and a little mean. But what she learns over the course of our story feels natural and less shoehorned in and obvious than you might expect. 

We also bring Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Arthur Conti into the fold, and I very much enjoyed the individual work they were doing here. I’m going to say less about those performances and these character details, because a great deal of the fun here is the discovery of what these people are bringing to the story. We also have a few fun surprises and twists along the way with them, surprises I hope nobody spoils for you.

And that just leaves us with our titular ‘ghost with the most’, Michael Keaton. In the original Beetlejuice, he doesn’t come into the film until about 45 minutes in. And even though he only appears in approximately 17 minutes of the film, his presence is felt over the entire duration. Here, he’s also not in the whole thing, but has appearances sprinkled throughout and he definitely brings the energy level up to a 10 when he’s onscreen. Keaton has not missed a beat, and the character is every bit of a delight now as he was then. Beetlejuice still has no real character arc, and he still has not learned a damn thing from his experiences. And that’s very much the point.

Tim Burton is having the kind of fun here that he hasn’t had in years, and I am fully here for him indulging in a movie that’s basically just skits and comedic set pieces. The lack of CGI here is also quite impressive, and a lot of practical effects look practical, and it absolutely would have detracted from the film if they were done any other way. We also have a lot of fun elements of the afterlife world added in here, and not as many obvious callbacks to the original as you may have expected. There may not be a lot of deeper meaning here, despite hints of something more human. This is ultimately a story about the Deetz women and the way the men in their lives have emotionally abused them, and what they do to combat that. And even though that’s what the story is, it feels like the implications of it are never fully explored, and that’s a shame.

1988’s Beetlejuice has spawned an animated series, comic books and perhaps most notably a Broadway musical, which retools the original film’s story in an extremely effective way. I find that musical to be a stronger piece of storytelling than the original film, and leading up to this, I had wanted a feature film adaptation of that, instead of this sequel. Beetlejuice the Musical finds a heart and an emotional truth within all the noise and scatological humor of the first film. And while this film finds fun ways of incorporating music, I was hoping for some nods to that Broadway musical, which we largely do not get here. 

In conclusion, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was never going to be everything that all viewers wanted it to be. When you have a property as beloved as this, audiences are always going to be comparing the sequel to the film they grew up with, or the musical they love, and it’s impossible to grade this film objectively as a result. But what I will say is this film is shooting off beams of off-kilter, bizarro energy that makes it pretty irresistible, despite its shortcomings. It very much has the energy and good vibes of the 1988 classic, and isn’t trying to recreate too many moments audiences know and love. And the callbacks to that film feel more organic and less ‘point-at-the-thing-you-know’ than has been the trend in recent sequels like this. Despite its flaws, of maybe because of them, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a very good time at the movies, and it’s a worthy addition to any fan’s yearly Spooky Season movie rotation.