By: Kaley Muse
This review will contain major spoilers for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024).
The sequel to the 1988 cult classic hit the box office on Friday, Sept. 6 and the campiness of the story, star-studded cast, and just enough special effects made it even better than the original.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” follows three generations of the Deetz family as they return to Winter River after a family tragedy rocks their world.
With the original film being so beloved and popular, I went into the new one very wary because remakes are (almost) NEVER good.
With that being said, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” pleasantly surprised me.
The campiness of the film made it that much more enjoyable.
The film had Willem Dafoe playing a washed up, dead action movie actor who never missed an opportunity to give a dramatic monologue.
It had Beetlejuice making people sing well-known love ballads and sucking them into their smartphones. The afterlife scenes never failed to make me belly laugh, and Danny DeVito even makes a cameo.
Besides the exaggerated nature of the film, every member of the cast was iconic in their own way.
Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Katherine O’Hara came back to reprise their iconic roles from the original.
Jenna Ortega was added to the cast as Astrid, Lydia’s teenaged daughter who kind of hates her guts.
Every character Ortega plays lately has the cutest style, and Astrid was no different.
The revered Italian actress and model Monica Bellucci plays Beetlejuice’s murderer/ex-wife, and her face card is still lethal.
Fans of the original will be happy to know that the sandworm does make an appearance, and he is animated to look exactly the same.
It can even be argued that he was one of the best parts of the entire movie.
Of course, the soundtrack was one for the ages featuring songs like “Day-O” by Alfie Davis, “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet and “Tragedy” by The Bee Gees.
All in all, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was a funny, lighthearted film that arrived just in time to get folks in the Halloween spirit. I give it a solid 6.5/10.