Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Scott Hardie: “It was ok.”

Tim Burton and his usual collaborators are far too skilled to make a bad movie, but they can definitely make one that feels meandering and inessential. Teams of screenwriters spent 35 years writing this horror-comedy sequel and still forgot to put in jokes? This movie is saddled with way too many subplots that don't hold up to scrutiny and ultimately don't go anywhere, such as Monica Bellucci's ex-bride who re-assembles herself (Burton revisiting Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas) and then violently pursues a reunion with her groom, even though the motives behind their actions past and present don't add up. Details that sound important or even break the thinly-established "rules" of the afterlife are introduced with great importance but never explained or used by the rest of the movie, like how Lydia Deetz cannot see one ghost in particular, and they feel like artifacts left over from earlier drafts of the screenplay. It takes a long time for this sequel to finish its excessive world-building and get into the action, but it's entertaining once it eventually does, pulling off two very inspired sequences, one in an underground train station that takes its name quite literally and the other a musical number in a church that feels like Burton once again achieving the perfect balance of sweet, goofy, and macabre all at once that has long been his greatest gift. This long-gestating sequel is well-made even if very unnecessary.This review contains spoilers. Reveal it.

− September 9, 2024 • more by Scott • log in or register to reply