REVIEW: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) – Geeks + Gamers

Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Movie Reviews

You can let go of your natural nervousness; Beetlejuice Beetlejuice This is one of the best legacy sequels ever made, a fun and endlessly inventive return to Tim Burton's macabre world that breathes beneath quaint small town America. More than the usual cash grab and a deconstruction, more than anything else, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice exists for a reason, and it's satisfying to revisit the characters thirty-five years later and see how newcomers to the spirit world respond to the afterlife and its many horrors.

After learning of her father's death, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) returns to Winter River, Connecticut for the funeral with her stepmother, Delia (Catherine O'Hara), and her angry daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega). But Lydia is having visions of the demonic ghost that once haunted her family, and when they return to the haunted house where Lydia spent her teenage years, a supernatural force knocks on the door of our world to set it free again. Meanwhile, in the afterlife, a dismembered woman named Delores (Monica Bellucci) reassembles herself and sets out to find the most dangerous ghost of all, stealing every soul in her path.

I'm going to beat around the bush a lot of details because Beetlejuice Beetlejuice This is a movie you'll want to see for yourself. While it starts with Lydia this year, she's done a great job of creating something that's meaningful to her character and to her on a human level. (Small hint: she uses the fact that she herself is strange and unusual.) Lydia is handled brilliantly, and a lot of credit goes to Winona Ryder's brilliant, nuanced performance. She is Lydia's identity Beetle Juice – She's still smart, and she still has her goth style – but she feels more grown up now, as she's grown out of some of the childish antics from last time. She's not running around taking pictures to annoy people, for example, and now that she's established herself as an adult, she talks like a normal person. It's a tough balance, one that could easily stretch too far in either direction and ruin the character, but Ryder is excellent. It's absolutely Lydia Deetz, just a mature person who's experienced a lot more than she ever thought she would as a teenager.

Lydia is leading it Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceWhich is as it should be, especially since Adam and Barbara are no longer around. (Their absence is explained in one useless line, and while I think it's kind of lame, it's a necessary evil since Alex Baldwin and Geena Davis are nearing 70 and can't play two ghosts who died in their 30s.) Their daughter, Astrid, is a sort of secondary protagonist, and Jenna Ortega fits into this world as well as you'd expect. She's a good actress, which, along with the script, helps keep Astrid from becoming the annoying kid she would have been in lesser hands. Astrid is a key character Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Because her resentment towards her mother escalates to a belief in the supernatural. That's the danger in sequels to a film like this Beetle Juice; we already know about this world, Adam, Barbara and Lydia are our representatives in the first film, guided through the afterlife and all its traps by people who have died. This time, we are the experts, as is Lydia. This is where Astrid comes in; she is a novice almost by choice, and this time, we are on the other side, knowing that she should listen to her mother and wait for her to unravel the mysteries of the ghostly world. How this happens is truly amazing, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Some times successfully pulls the carpet out from under your feet.

The rest of the cast is also great. I wasn't sure how big a role Catherine O'Hara would have, but she is as much in this movie as she was in this one. Beetle JuiceOr maybe a little less. Delia is just as clumsy, irritable, and artistic as she was before, but now she and Lydia have an added wrinkle that makes them more similar than Lydia cares to admit. O'Hara is as funny as ever, and Delia remains a joy whenever she's on screen. Justin Theroux plays Rory, Lydia's work partner and lover, and he's basically a moron, a guy you hate just because of his presence. I feel bad for actors who play these thankless roles because their job is to be obnoxious, and Theroux is obnoxious and unlikable, which is perfect for Rory. Monica Bellucci's Dolores is a force of nature, who gets her way Beetlejuice Beetlejuice There's nothing else to carry her other than her screen presence, and that's enough. While Dolores is part of the film's biggest problem, it's certainly not because of Bellucci. And Willem Dafoe, once again proving he's one of the best actors around, managed to create a completely new character that you wouldn't expect him to play, but after the credits roll, can't imagine anyone else playing it.

I'm missing someone, obviously. If you're waiting for me to get to him, you'll feel the same when you watch this video. Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceAnd I mean that in a good way. Betelgeuse is as big a part of this as it was before. Beetle Juice – I think, anyway – but their appearances are varied and executed very deliberately, so it's a surprise when they suddenly appear. But Betelgeuse plays the same role here that he did in 1988; he's the X-factor, the embodiment of the trickster god archetype who spreads chaos wherever he goes. The movie's setup is so effective that Betelgeuse's presence is felt even when he's not there, and the anticipation for his next appearance grows each time. Michael Keaton is fantastic again, embodying the disturbing bio-exorcist as if he shot this movie right after the first one. He's funny, he's scary, and he has a Faustian bargain to offer at any opportunity. When this one is over, you'll happily watch the third movie, too Beetle Juice Immediately, because Keaton will leave you thirsting for more of his antics.

If there is any deficiency in Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceIt's that it's a bit much. The plot is more complex this time around, with several subplots overlapping, and not all of them get the time they need to be fully effective. The one that suffers most in this regard is Dolores, who disappears for a while and then emerges like a shark; it helps make her a frightening presence, but her character is made much more central than she ultimately is. It's a shame, especially because of how good Monica Bellucci is. However, the other plots are intricately plotted, with what almost seem like diversions suddenly becoming major arcs for the main characters. It's all wrapped up in a lot of spectacle, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn't always fail to offer something new, instead most legacy sequels use familiar frameworks like crutches. (There's even a great joke about this at one point.) Almost no lines from the original are repeated Beetle JuiceWhich is a relief after an incident like this. Alien: Romulus.and when something Beetle Juice If a member appears or gets a callback, it's for more than just being a 'member berry.'

This leaves ample room for new set pieces and ideas, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice It's full of them. There are song and dance numbers with new music and happenings for new reasons (and all the songs are perfectly chosen), and new aspects of life after death are explored while old aspects that have ended are left behind. One of the many joys of life after death Beetle Juice he had been seeing ghosts and using the clues in their strange designs to figure out how they died, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice recaptures that sense of simplicity. The special effects are far more minimal than what you see today, with CGI present but used sparingly. The result is a return to a world that feels familiar as opposed to a lifeless update with new technology that drains all the charm of something we once knew. There are some truly inventive visuals and special effects throughout Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceAnd it's so satisfying to know that Tim Burton still has the ability to create something so wonderful.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice It's a rare modern film that has the same magic as the movies we grew up watching. You're not just spending time watching another empty spectacle that's forgotten the spectacle; you're drawn into a world that feels real at all times, with the comfort of familiarity and the thrill of something new. It's impressive that Tim Burton was able to do this so well, and his latest film should serve as a master class in bringing a truly dead property back to life. But, then again, raising the dead is what it's all about Beetle Juice Best done.