It has been over 35 years since Michael Keaton debuted his otherworldly entity known as Beetlejuice, and he didn’t really know if people wanted to see the character again.
“The only thing I worried about was, should we have left it alone? You know?” Keaton told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the premiere. “Should we have just said that: ‘Don’t touch it. Just walk away. Go make your other movies,’ which we did.” But still, Tim Burton and Winona Ryder were on board for a sequel, and it came to life thanks to the addition of Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe. All they needed was another supply of white face powder and some intense eyeliner to bring him back to the world of the living.
In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ortega stars as Astrid, Winona Ryder’s stubborn daughter who unintentionally calls for Beetlejuice to return, which he does happily. The sequel seems to have hit a sweet spot with critics who agree that, hey, we didn’t need this, but it’s still kind of nice to have it anyway. Here is what the reviews are saying:
Siddhant Adlakha, IGN:
Tim Burton allows the cast of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to have fun, even if they’re all off in separate movies that barely overlap. Its story is intentionally robbed of dramatic weight, but this makes way for the goofy, imaginative practical effects of Burton’s early days, resulting in a small-scale legacy sequel that doesn’t take itself too seriously (because it doesn’t need to).
Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline:
The first Beetlejuice in 1988 captured imaginations because it was new, unlike anything else and deliciously tasteless while being, to be honest, pretty clunky. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is not clunky. Yes, there are plenty of animation joins that haven’t been smoothed over by CGI. Some of the props look like tat Burton bought in a flea market. But it also has a proper plot, full of twists and turns; a terrific cameo characters supporting the impeccable main cast; a meticulous spoof Italian horror film in the middle of it all; and a climactic musical number in which key cast members mime to Richard Harris’ 1968 pop hit “Macarthur Park” while dancing around a giant cake with icing the exact green of snot.
Barry Levitt, Daily Beast
When it steps back from reality and plumbs the depths of the afterlife, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a lot of fun. The final 10 minutes are tremendous (and tremendously ridiculous) while finally giving Betelgeuse his due, and Burton finds a pitch-perfect ’60s song to resurrect in glorious effect. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice possesses a lot of what has made the original movie a bonafide classic, even if the script forgets that too often.
John Nugent, Empire:
The film is strongest when it remembers it’s a Tim Burton film and has licence to get weird. While it’s slicker and less homemade-feeling than the 1988 vintage, there are still flashes of B-movie brilliance: a stop-motion animation sequence, some delightful shrunken-head prosthetic effects, and two demented birth scenes with the most ghoulish prosthetic baby this side of American Sniper. It’s moments like this, when Burton lets his freak flag truly fly, that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice earns its stripes.
Marshall Shaffer, The Playlist:
The faint scent of intellectual property looms a little too large over Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to call it a true return to form for Tim Burton. But it’s unmistakably a return to joy for a legendary director, and that goes a long way in making this film stand out in a sea of ill-conceived sequels
Stephanie Zacharek, Time:
There’s a lot of plot windup before Beetlejuice, the “trickster demon,” as Lydia describes him, shows up. But when he does, it’s like greeting a decrepit, kvetching old friend, the kind you keep around just for entertainment value. Michael Keaton clearly adores this character; once again, he pours pure love into Beetlejuice’s maniacal, depraved soul.
Ben Croll, The Wrap:
For a film very much anchored in the dominant Hollywood model of undead IP buried in legacy and lore, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has an appealingly throwback quality – not just for the welcome return of long-missed techniques, but for a sensibility and sense of humor that doesn’t try to keep with the times.
Few would mistake “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” for a confessional or particularly self-revealing work, but it does hew closer to that original artistic spark that dimmed once the director became a trademark.
The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks was a little less excited:
For all its spilling intestines and head-spinning demon babies, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels underpowered and throwaway. It’s a likable exercise in nostalgia; a joyride through old haunts. Burton’s underworld caper contains plenty of second-hand spirit; what it craves is fresh blood. What it needs is some substance.
If you feel ready to take on Beetlejuice, you know what to do: just say his name a few times and see if you can get Michael Keaton to show up. He probably will!
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters on Sept 6.