Last weekend, Andrea and I absconded from the Fortress of Ineptitude to go see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the 1988 classic supernatural comedy film, Beetlejuice.
Andrea has been psyched for months to see this and really enjoyed the new movie.
I… will be a bit more analytical.
The new sequel is… OK. There are individual bits and scenes that are imaginative and funny.
But does this new film come together as a cohesive whole?
The new movie centers around Lydia Deetz, now a middle aged single mother and host of her own TV show called Ghost House where she uses her paranormal connection to the great beyond to help people with ghost infested homes.
Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, thinks her mother is a con artist and wants nothing to do with her. Lydia claims to talk to ghosts but can't contact the one ghost Astrid most wants to see, that of her late father.
Astrid has one bright spot in her life. She's met a boy named Jeremy who she is getting along quite well with. NO! Do NOT trust this guy, Astrid!
Deelia Deetz, Lydia’s step mother, is still determined after all these years to make herself the center of attention in the avante guard world of art.
Three generations of Deetz women come together in a time of tragedy, the death of Lydia’s father, George.
- Who survived the plane crash.
- And avoided drowning.
- But was eaten by a shark.
(A sequence of events inspired by a nightmare director Tim Burton had about his own death.)
Rory, Lydia’s TV producer and her erstwhile boyfriend, thinks now (while Lydia is dealing with the death of her father and that her daughter still hates her) is a good time to get married.
We do not like Rory. As the movie progresses, we will like him less.
Meanwhile through all this, Lydia is being haunted by visions of Betelgeuse.
And Betelgeuse has his own problems: his ex-wife Delores has pulled herself together (with the help of a handy dandy stapler) in order to seek revenge on her former husband.
We get a reprise of "Day-O" from the original movie but as a solemn choral arrangement sung at George's funeral. I've put Andrea on notice that I want this sung at my funeral. It has the words that are my sad daily mantra: "I want to go home." It would be perfect.
For the sequel, we get a pantomime performance by the film's principals to "McArthur Park" by Richard Harris. Not as fun as "Day-O" but weird nonetheless.
A lot of reviews have praised Michael Keaton's return to the role of Betelgeuse and I get where some of that is coming from but quite frankly, I found Keaton's modern interpretation of Betelgeuse to somewhat sluggish, uninspired even.
If you saw the original movie in 1988, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will likely check off enough boxes to make this a fun and engaging trip into nostalgia.
But....
There's a lot going on in this movie but does it carry any weight?
Maybe it's a mistake to expect more. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun enough movie but I can't shake the feeling it was missing something.
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