By: Jadyn Iby ‘25 – published in Fall 2024 Issue 1
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was released to theaters Sept. 6, leaving Tim Burton fans in a major horror frenzy. Overall, this second part of the series was great. We see a wide variety of surprise actors and actresses within this second film. These guest stars include Willem Defoe, Danny DeVito, and Monica Bellucci. I think it’s great that Burton included these specific actors and actresses to be put in this second movie to keep the audience guessing. I also really enjoy how quickly the film gets into the storyline; you don’t have to worry about being bored at the start of this movie.
The film fast forwards to Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) now being a mother to her daughter Astrid Deetz (Jenna Ortega). Burton’s inclusion of Jenna Ortega in this movie is simply genius, as she can pull off the gothic look in a natural way that only a few can. If you don’t already recognize her, she has played other various roles for Burton such as, Wednesday Addams in the hit Netflix show Wednesday. Lydia now has a hit TV show called “Ghost House,” in which she does paranormal investigations and is a ghost hunter. However, she again starts to see Beetlejuice and that is where the movie takes off. We also see Katherine O’Hara continue to play Delia Deetz in this second film, her character being back and as eccentric as ever.
The only negative attribute about this film is that it is all over the place. There are multiple storylines happening at once. For example, we see scenes about the relationship between Lydia and Astrid and how they don’t really get along. We also see Lydia’s old relationship with Beetlejuice blossom into somewhat of a friendship. Additionally, Astrid meets a boy named Jeremy Frazier (played by Arthur Conti). She really starts to like him, but her romance has a horrific twist. She meets him in the original setting of the first movie: Winter River, Connecticut. These storylines are all happening at the same time in the movie. Burton flashes back and forth between the few that I mentioned and many more storylines, making it a little hard to keep up with what was going on in the movie.
This movie constantly kept me guessing and was hilarious. Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice) is the highlight of this movie truly, with all of his raunchy jokes and wittiness. Tim Burton did a really good job of complimenting the original movie. This second movie might even be better than the first, considering the first movie barely had any emotion whereas, in this second movie there was more emotion. Overall, I would really recommend going to watch this movie in theaters.