Beetlejuice BeetleJuice is a sequel to Tim Burton’s 1998 hit, Beetlejuice. 

Burton is known for his dark-themed, but whimsical movies, such as The Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz), Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz), and Michael Keaton (BeetleJuice) reprise their original roles, and they are joined by  Jenna Ortega (Astrid Deetz), Willem Dafoe (Wolf Jackson), and Monica Bellucci (Delores).

The movie picks up from the first movie, but it’s 36 years later. Lydia no longer lives in the Haunted Manor and has a daughter of her own, Astrid. Lydia now runs a television show about investigating people’s houses haunted by ghosts. She calls for Beetlejuice’s help again to save her daughter Astrid from being trapped in the ghost world. She wants Beetlejuice to be her guide to find where her daughter might be, but of course, he wants something in return for helping her.

I do enjoy Burton’s movies and his style, but I wouldn’t say I am a huge fan of his. Some things I enjoyed about this movie were its returning actors because I felt that it wouldn’t have felt the same without them, especially Winona Ryder who completes the movie in my opinion. I also enjoyed the scene where they entered the ghost land because it felt like I also had entered and experienced that world. I also liked how fun and trippy it looked inside of the ghostland because it reminded me of a circus funhouse.

I did not enjoy how there were some disturbing parts, for example, a scene where Beetlejuice spilled his guts everywhere making his weird crazy “joke.” It killed my vibe and made me lose my appetite to even finish eating my popcorn. I also did not like how the ending felt kind of rushed and we didn’t get to see much of Delores, a new character in the movie. I would’ve thought she would’ve lasted longer as some sort of powerful antagonist that she was displayed as.

Compared to the original, this movie revolves more around family bonding with the Deetz family. The original focuses on ghosts trying to scare the Deetz family out of their home. When it comes to this movie, it is more up-to-date with present times. For example, Lydia’s television show is some kind of ghost-hunting show that is trending nowadays. Also, the overall plot is up to date, with the movie focusing on family bonding, as all movies now have been adding this, which has a higher meaning and highlights the importance of family.

This is a good follow-up as we get to know more backstory about Beetlejuice himself and his relationship with Lydia. We also learn how Beetlejuice became a ghost and what kind of person he was when he was alive.

I would give it a solid 8 out of 10 because it was a great movie and they tied it in with how different the world is now from 36 years ago and how important family is. I only wished I could’ve seen more of Delores and Beetlejuice.