Published by Mason Oldridge, 23 September 2024
CONTAINS SPOILERS!
36 years on from the original film, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Michael Keaton as the leading man himself are all back for this next gen sequel to the Tim Burton classic.
This second instalment sees Lydia, now a mother and paranormal talk show host, forced back into the land of the afterlife in order to save her teenage daughter Astrid. They return to Winter River following the death of Charles, where social outcast Astrid meets a potential love interest in Jeremy. However, it turns out Jeremy is a ghost who murdered his parents and is actually plotting to take Astrid’s life to get his back. After he tricks her into visiting the afterlife with a ploy to see her deceased father, Lydia must face Beetlejuice once again, who still wants to marry her. Elsewhere, Delia passes away from a snakebite and enters the afterlife, looking for Charles. Beetlejuice, hiding from his soul-sucking ex-wife Delores, helps both Lydia save Astrid and Delia find Charles in exchange for a contract and assistance in finding and marrying Lydia.
Fans of the original will be delighted at the returning cast members and the new ones are bound to please too. Jenna Ortega is perfect for the role of Astrid, having already established herself as a Scream Queen, while Justin Thereux and Willem Defoe also join the new additions. Furthermore, Danny DeVito has a bizarre blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as an undead janitor.
In comparison to its predecessor, the film feels a lot more polished and clean, while still keeping true to the spirit of the original.
Once again a fantasy-comedy-horror mashup, both returning fans and new viewers are likely to be left satisfied with this new outing for the ghost with the most.
7/10