Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

 Oh, now you've done it Jethro. You've almost hit the limit! On the title even!

Baxter, relax, haven't you listened to the musical? It has to be "three times in a row, spoken unbroken." So, as long as we don't reuse words a lot, we can say Beetlejuice as many times as we want. It's important for reviewing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

......

Nothing happened! Hey, you're right!

Anyway, let's see what ghoulish hijinks Tim Burton and his writers have come up with for the Ghost with the Most.

Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is now the host of her own talk show, Ghost House, where she investigates, well, ghost houses and interviews their mortal occupants. She's still haunted by visions of Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton); meanwhile, she has a strained relationship with her stepmother, Delia (Catherine O'Hara), and her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) is embarrassed to be associated with her. Lydia, Delia and Astrid all head back to Winter River, Connecticut, for the funeral of their patriarch, Charles (originated by Jeffrey Jones, whose legal troubles made it impossible for him to return). Her producer and boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux), even proposes right at the wake.

Meanwhile, Beetlejuice's (or Betelgeuse's) ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci), pulls herself back together and goes on a soul-sucking beeline for His Ghostliness. Also, meanwhile, Astrid finds herself a new ghost boyfriend named Jeremy (Arthur Conti), who just wants to get his mortal green card stamped. Astrid agrees to help him, unaware that Jeremy is a murderer who wants to trade her life for his. When Lydia finds out about it, she calls up Beetlejuice to help her go after them. She agrees to marry the ghoul if it means getting Astrid back. It all leads to a bit of mayhem at a church.

That sure sounds like a lot. The film is only 105-minutes long, slightly longer than the first film, but the big hook of it all - Beetlejuice and Lydia's team-up - kicks off about an hour in. What other stuff is there? There's also some business with ghost cop Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) and his squad of keystone ghost cops. Delores sucks a few souls during the film (including a janitor played by Danny DeVito), but she finally gets to Beetlejuice in the climax. Delia's obsession with the eccentric leads her to the last mistake of her life. Surprisingly, these subplots don't really overwhelm the film.

Lydia and Astrid's problems drive most of the film. Lydia's nightmares of Beetlejuice, nicely edited by Jay Prychidny, are as scary for her as they are for the audience. Just wait until you see the finale. Astrid spends the first half believing her mother a fraud, which makes it memorable when she discovers Jeremy's ethereal nature. Astrid and Jeremy are pretty likable together, at least, until we realize who Jeremy was. Astrid and Lydia also have pretty good chemistry together, in good times and in bad. Richard (Santiago Cabrera), Lydia's husband and Astrid's dad, only has about a few scenes in death. But they were pretty good ones. 

Meanwhile, Dafoe is clearly having a ball as Jackson, who is one of the funniest characters in the film. Delia's eccentricities are amusing, but her intuition into Lydia's relationships is impressive. We pity her once she realizes that she is among the recently deceased. Bellucci is fine as Delores, but she doesn't have much to do. Rory is quite tactless, domineering, and you'll realize he's a lot worse. He's still a lot more likable than Jeremy, that's for sure.

And who can forget Beetlejuice? He's just as tactless and manically charming as he was when he debuted in 1988. He has a few moments of decency, including giving Jeremy a nasty surprise, so he isn't that bad. But still, you'll understand Lydia's apprehension around him. Beetlejuice first appeared in full forty-seven minutes into the first film and had about seventeen minutes of screentime. This time, he appears quite earlier and seems like he has more screentime, but he never wears out his welcome.

Production Designer Mark Scruton and Costume Designer Colleen Atwood do a pretty good job recreating the visual aesthetics from the original film. The new locales, outfits and even lighting schemes are especially appealing. The makeup and hairstyling for both the living and dead are just as delightfully ghoulish as the first film's Oscar-winning work. The most ghoulish design maybe Charles Deetz's new look, though I'm positive CGI was involved. There's some good stop-motion to visualize Charles's death, as well as another old favorite, the Titan Sandworm. Danny Elfman's update of the first film's theme, as well as his new score, is outstanding. And yes, The Banana Boat Song makes a cameo, while Macarthur Park figures into this film's big musical number (I never realized how silly the lyrics were, but that's just me).

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a pretty good belated sequel to a dark comedy classic. It is significantly more macabre than its predecessor, but it has a compelling narrative about both the living and the dead learning to appreciate life. If Warner Brothers wants to remake the first film, they should do the decent thing and adapt the Broadway musical. Then again, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice does have some thematic overlap with the musical, so maybe they did. Burton credits this film with getting his filmmaking groove back; I await his next film more than ever.

Yeah, I can't wait for the inevitable Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice...

(It's Showtime!)

I walked into that one, didn't I?

That's it for now.