36 years after the Tim Burton classic Beetlejuice released, Warner Bros. said his name three times in an attempt at a hit in this long string of legacy sequels. Sept. 6, 2024 saw the release of the not much long-awaited sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Burton’s past decade in film has not inspired much confidence in his future projects, but Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a simple yet effective return to form.
Six Batman adaptations and 10 Presidential terms later, Michael Keaton comes back to the titular Beetlejuice role to give yet another unforgettably raunchy performance. Alongside Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara also reprise their roles from the original. Seeing these actors come back to the wonderful world of Tim Burton is exciting, but newcomers Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe make a strong case for themselves.
Ortega worked with Burton on Netflix’s Addams Family reimagining Wednesday, it’s not hard to see that this is just the beginning of a long-lasting working relationship. She plays the character of Lydia Deetz’s daughter, Astrid and acts just like her mother did in the original—a snarky, gloomy teen caught in between the living, the dead and Michael Keaton. When she finds herself stuck in The Neitherworld (the movies version of an afterlife) due to a botched deal between her and a deceptive ghost, Lydia and Beetlejuice reunite to save her from being stuck there for an eternity.
Ryder is just as youthful and silly as she was in the original Beetlejuice at 15 years old. Though Lydia Deetz has become a mother and found a career in hosting her own ghost-hunting show, she’s still the same quirky, gothic teenager audiences fell in love with all those years ago. It’s not only a testament to Ryder’s acting, but Burton’s directing that they were able to bring that character back with such little trouble.
Dafoe is so much in his element in Burton’s twisted world that it feels almost wrong that this is their first time working together. Dafoe’s ability to portray any emotion in the human index with just his mouth has been landing him roles for decades and it’s shocking that not one of them have been in Burton’s colorful filmography. In the very early stages of Burton’s 1989 Batman adaptation, Dafoe was briefly considered for the Dark Knight himself as Burton was looking for an unknown actor to don the suit, before Michael Keaton’s unstoppable 80’s Hollywood magic would eventually land him the role.
This is not the first time Keaton has reprised an iconic role from Warner Bros. back catalog, as he returned as Batman in 2023’s less-than-stellar The Flash. Unfortunately, Keaton only has so much magic and audiences should be lucky that he decided to spend the rest of it on a Beetlejuice sequel. Keaton is just as gnarly and juvenile as our favorite bio-exorcist was in the 1988 original. Much like Ryder, he hasn’t aged a day, his costume looks nearly identical to how it looked all those years ago, and in some cases looks better.
One thing that has aged is the state of movie-making. Though the reach of digital shooting is unavoidable, it takes something away from the magic of a Tim Burton adventure. Something intrinsic to the nature of a film, its grain. The mixture of shooting on 35mm film and Burton’s commitment to practicality is part of the identity of his filmography. To take that away is to take something from the heart of the movie. Beetlejuice 2 using digital to shoot over film feels almost uncanny, like it isn’t quite right. A Burton picture without film grain is like an unfinished painting, and therefore already at a disadvantage competing with the original. Even a visionary as talented as him isn’t free from the grasp of the increasingly ugly-looking nature of films, every indoor scene shot during the day looks like it was filmed in a warehouse in front of a green screen. It completely takes viewers out of the moment especially compared to the lively and colorful look of the zany underworld Burton has lovingly recreated.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun return to a classic world with beloved actors new and old, plot-lines that don’t really go together and a 66-year-old Burton that is brimming with life. Though it’s not perfect, it’s a promising look at what Burton is still capable of and it shows that a true commitment to making an actual, tangible world with real props and sets can bring great results. The digital look isn’t doing the movie any favors, but Burton’s magic still manages to shine through.
