Every year around the autumn season, many people enjoy watching movies such as Hocus Pocus, Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas, etc. Amongst those fall favorites is a movie called Beetlejuice. Although released in March of 1988, people love to watch this movie when Halloween time rolls around.
Recently released on September 6th was a sequel to this fan favorite, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. On Sunday, September 15th, I went to watch the new movie and was a little surprised at what my final thoughts were. Director, Tim Burton, came back to direct the second movie and due to how much I enjoyed the first movie, my expectations were set extremely high.
My expectations were immediately shot down. The acting, plots (yes, there are multiple), and overall execution of the film was, in my opinion, poor. The second movie was just as whimsical as the first one, but it lacked that nostalgic and homey feeling the first movie had.
It did have its perks; it was fun and I enjoyed the mixed media they added in: from claymation to puppets, and shockingly, little CGI. The most praise I can give this movie is how it reminds me of fall, and I would feel compelled to watch it around Halloween.
However, the plots in the movie were all over the place. Along with that, I felt like it took forever to get to the climax of the movie. After they finally arrived at the climax, it felt extremely rushed. So many things were happening. There were so many new relationships, love interests, and love triangles; I felt like my head was spinning. If the producers wrote out some of the new characters, the movie would have the same effect as the first movie.
Overall, I expected more from Tim Burton. His other movies are absolute masterpieces, but I was disappointed by how this sequel was executed. Most sequels to classic movies fail to capture the essence of the original, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is just another one to add to that list. It’s not as bad as other sequels, but I wouldn’t watch it again willingly.
