Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

 

“The juice is loose!”

Kooky, macabre and manic, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a ghoulishly good time that recaptures a lot of the creative energy of the original thanks to returning players, new performers, and a heavy emphasis on practical effects to deliver a frightfully fun time that starts a bit slow but ends on a complete high.

Discussion Points:

Oh man! It is so refreshing to have a Tim Burton film that isn’t caked in heavy amounts of CGI! Instead we get heavily caked makeup, prosthetics and practical effects that all combine to recreate and expand the ghostly gutbusting world of Beetlejuice! The story is pretty thin, and Monica Bellucci feels wasted, but man the film absolutely kicks into another gear in its final 40 minutes which locked me into its crazy chaotic antics with a third act that is so much fun, it bumped this up from a 7/10 to an 8/10 personally. Burton reunites with many of his collaborators, new and old, to great results with a fantastic Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder Michael Keaton, Willem Dafoe and Jenna Ortega being the highlights and Danny Elfman delivering another great score. I went in to this with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised at its comedic creativity and macabre mania that didn’t feel trite or forced. It’s not able to fully recapture the originality of the first, but it does keep a lot of its personality and atmosphere which helps this really thrive as a legacy sequel. I’m very glad the juice is loose again!