By Jay’Mi Vazquez
Managing Editor
photo | Instagram
One of the many movie posters for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
The long-anticipated sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 film, “Beetlejuice” titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was released earlier this month.
This film was questionable to say the least.
I enjoyed the fact that Burton was able to bring back most of the cast from the original film such as Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara.
New additions to the film like Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci were also good.
Having new characters intertwined with the original helped progress the story to make it new and fresh.
Just like the first film, the soundtrack enhanced key moments and even had funny jokes within it, which was a good callback to the original film.
However, the movie’s plot was not the best. It felt as if there were many storylines fighting to be the main one.
The film started making viewers think the central plot was going to be Lydia Deetz, played by Winona Ryder, trying to fix her relationship with her daughter, Astrid Deetz, played by Jenna Ortega.
The death of Charles Deetz, Lydia’s father in the original film, seemed to be the link that brought the family together, but then the film takes a turn.
Shortly after the beginning of the film, viewers are introduced to a new villain, Delores played by Monica Bellucci.
This is when viewers were introduced to Wolf Jackson, who was a Hollywood actor who became the police chief of the afterlife, played by Willem Dafoe.
Delores is described as a “soul snatcher,” which is a being who can suck out a person’s soul in the afterlife, killing them permanantly.
Her sole purpose for returning is to kill Beetlejuice, who was her ex-husband in the real-world.
This storyline could have been the main plot, but the film began to bounce around.
It started to focus on several subplots, which got confusing to follow after a while.
The third storyline introduced was the young love interest of Astrid’s, Jeremy Frazier.
This is truly where the film went downhill.
In a plot twist, Frazier is revealed to be a ghost who murdered his family. As a love interest, he somehow convinced Astrid to trade her life with his so he can come back to life.
This entire plot twist happened in the span of 20 minutes, which felt super rushed.
Personally, I would have liked to see this plot flourish further and be the focus of the film, as it felt more on par with the original. But no, the movie takes even more weird twists and turns in classic Burton fashion.
After hesitating, Lydia says Beetlejuice thrice and asks for his help to get Astrid out of the afterlife in exchange for marrying him.
This is a good call back to the original film, as Beetlejuice trying to marry Lydia was the main plot in that film.
It becomes a wild goose chase as Lydia tries to get Astrid back, and then Delores is trying to kill Beetlejuice. Again, the film was very messy and hard to follow at times.
In the meantime, while all of this is going on, Delia Deetz, Lydia’s stepmother from the original film, dies by an accidental snakebite. This death felt super random to throw into the film with only 40 minutes left.
The film struggled with pacing and dragging out parts where it should have built momentum.
Ultimately, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” lacked the heart and creativity that defined its predecessor, leaving fans disappointed.
The attempt to revive such an iconic film felt more like a cash grab than a genuine artistic endeavor.
VOL. 64- ISSUE 4
