Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review

This film has way too many subplots, which it does not know how to balance properly. Eventually, they all just start to blend together. While watching this film, I counted anywhere from 6 to 8 subplots that the film tries to balance on top of the main story. This causes the film to become packed with moments that are forgettable or simply unimportant. 

Almost the entire cast returned for this film, including Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice. You get more of him in this film than you did in the original, but he does not overstay his welcome and is just as funny and charming as he is in the original. Winona Ryder returns as Lydia and is just as good in this as the original, and Cathrine O’Hara also gives a performance just as strong as in the first movie. Jenna Ortega was cast as Lydias daughter, Astrid, but as amazing as Ortega is, Astrid fell flat for me as a character. It seems like she was written as a younger Lydia but without nearly the same charm. 

The humor in this film is hit or miss in a lot of places. This film does modernize some aspects, but some of the humor feels outdated, and a younger audience may not get the jokes. For instance, this film makes jokes and references to Soul Train, a television show from the ‘70s, twice. A younger audience is not going to find that joke funny or get the reference since they have no idea what Soul Train is. 

A standout feature of the original film is the soundtrack, which primarily used songs from Harry Belafonte. While the soundtrack of this film may not be nearly as big of a standout as the original, it is still quite good. 

As anticipated as this sequel was, I went in with high hopes. Sadly, though, this film falls flat in more places than it should and it undershoots those expectations by a wide margin. It is packed with unnecessary content that could have been cut, and even the great returning and new cast cannot fix the problems this film has. I give this film a 4 out 10.