Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  (12A) |Close-Up Film Review

It’s over a quarter of a century since the title character created by actor Michael Keaton and director Tim Burton first chilled the Deetz family.   

Young Lydia (Winona Ryder), as she was then, has worn rather well.   Still beautiful with a distinct touch of Goth in her appearance, she’s now hosting a tv show about ghosts and such.  Beetlejuice himself though (Michael Keaton) is looking a bit worse for wear.  It’s a tough death making mischief in the afterlife. 

This very late sequel takes Lydia, her annoying mum Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and Lydia’s teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) back to the spooky house after Dad’s death, which is dealt with in a rather bizarre little animation sequence.   Also tagging along is Lydia’s inept suitor Rory (Justin Theroux), who produces her show and tries to control her life.   Astrid can’t stand him.  Can’t say I blame her.  He sports a very annoying little pony tail which says it all.  

However while we’re getting to grips with the family tragedy that takes the family back to Spooksville, Burton takes the opportunity to fill us in on the Afterlife – pinhead Bob Shrinker, a dodgy janitor (Danny DeVito in a cameo) and Beetlejuice’s ex spouse from the good old days in the fourteenth century, Delores (Monica Bellucci), who appears to have ended her previous life in pieces but does a sort of self service Frankenstein number in reassembling her body.  Scary lady this one.  Her breath is literally lethal.  And she’s out for revenge on her ex for his past sins. 

The two worlds come together again through Astrid, who links up with a cute local boy called Jeremy (Arthur Conti), who’s not as cute as he seems, as a result of which Astrid, pursued by her mother, ends up in the Afterlife world, where Lydia once more almost ends up in the arms of Beetlejuice himself.  

Because of Burton’s wonderfully bizarre imagination the underworld is much more interesting than life up here.  The smaller touches are particularly fun, such as a gospel style number around the underground train, which is bound for exotic destinations such as Pearly Gates and Elysium Fields.  While one of the most appealing characters in the Afterlife is Wolf Jackson, (Willem Defoe), a dead actor who is fulfilling his lifelong ambition of playing a Colombo type cop role.  He doesn’t really have much to do with the main plot apart from his inept attempts to nail Beetlejuice, but there’s a particularly great scene where he’s doing his cop number and the afterlifers are holding up idiot boards with his lines written on them.

As for Beetlejuice himself, he’s just as wicked as before with his ghoulish make up,  running with sweat at times, those awful teeth, the wild hair – and of course the wisecracks. 

Burton’s fertile visual imagination takes full advantage of all the extra technical tricks now on available for him to play with.  That plus the frantic pace, and the screamingly high volume of the soundtrack, may perhaps please a new generation of Beetlejuice fans.  But will it be remembered with the same affection as Burton’s earlier work is, I wonder, once the next big, hot, digital effects loaded, mega project comes along?  Somehow I doubt it.