The smash hit “Beetlejuice” released over 35 years ago, introduced a fun and quirky new angle of ghosts and the afterlife, and is considered one of the top movies of all time. So, it’s no wonder that the new record-breaking sequel, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is making a huge blow to box office success.
After racking up around $110 million opening week, it’s safe to say people were rushing to theaters to see this long-awaited continuation. Even so, critics seem to have been fairly disappointed and are very vocal about it. “Sometimes, the dead should just stay buried,” says the Austin Chronicle.
It is a very well-known opinion that critics are usually very wrong and don’t know what a good movie is like, and in this case, this is very true.
I went to see the movie thinking it wouldn’t be good, due to all the backlash. To my surprise, it was the first movie I’ve watched in a while that I genuinely enjoyed.
The casting director should get a raise. Not only because most of the original cast is in it, making it feel way more like a continuation of the original, but also because of the perfect pick of Jenna Ortega. When I heard she was going to be starring in it, I wasn’t too sure about the idea. However, I can wholeheartedly say that she was an amazing pick. She fits right in with the concept and the story, which is very hard to do considering how unique the movie Beetlejuice is. She captured the role of Lydia Deetz’s daughter perfectly.
Another actor who did a spectacular performance is Beetlejuice himself. How does Michael Keaton come back to the same role 35 years later and still play the part so perfectly as if he never left it? I could never imagine anyone else playing this role. Even in the mere 17 minutes he gets on the screen, he still sticks out the most.
One thing that caught my eye was the big musical scene at the wedding ceremony with the song “MacArthur Park”. Even though it could never outdo the iconic “Day-O” scene from the original movie, it was a close second. Beetlejuice is the only franchise where you would ever see such a unique but entertaining scene like that one.
I adore the vision that Beetlejuice displays in terms of the afterlife. They make something that is scary to most people, seem completely harmless. The way that Delia Deetz randomly dies at the end of the movie but everyone just moves along with their day very normally is hilarious to me. If the real afterlife became the one from Beetlejuice, I wouldn’t even mind going.
The only thing in this movie that they did wrong was let Bob die. He suffered too much for them to kill him off like that. Very Tragic.
Seeing a good sequel be made is more rare than seeing a UFO. However, Beetlejuice has done it. So no matter how many critics say that it was missing something, we should thank Tim Burton for giving us something that most franchises can never achieve.