Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - Half Juiced

Tim Burton’s follow up to his 1988 cult classic and Generation X staple, Beetlejuice, is a mixed bag of silly fun, weak plots, and unfulfilled potential. 

Michael Keaton has not lost a step slipping back into the rotten green skin of our beloved Ghost With The Most. Every performance and every line is delivered with that classic low brow hilarity and top tier talent that only Keaton can bring to the table. Thirty years after the events of the first film, Betelguise seems to have parlayed his possession side-gig into a full corporate machine with his assistant Bob and a multitude of others like Bob. And while the possession business seems good, Betelgeuse is unable to let go of the one that got away, Lydia, played once again by Winona Ryder. However, his long forgotten succubus ex-wife, Delores, played by the sultry Monica Belucci, has returned from the Lost And Found and didn’t get the memo. Despite the hot pursuit by dead actor turned Afterlife Detective, Wolf Jackson played by Willem Dafoe, Delores hunts Betelgeuse down throughout the Afterlife, sucking the souls of any and all she comes across. 

Meanwhile in the land of the living, Lydia Deetz is now a mother to teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and has become a celebrity television show medium in a seemingly complicated guilt driven romantic relationship with her overly sensitive and emotional manager, Rory played by Justin Theroux. Lydia’s pretentious step-mother, Delia (the incomparable Catherine O’Hara returning)  has become a renowned avant garde performance artist that has to cancel her latest show due to the brutal and untimely death of her husband, Lydia’s father, Charles Deetz. Which couldn’t be more appropriate due to the repugnant actions and behavior of the actor behind the character, Jeffrey Jones, that led to his arrest in 2002.

The family returns to the house in Winter River to lay Charles to rest and the strained relationship between Astrid and Lydia (since the death of Astrid’s father, Richard played by Santiago Cabrera) leads Astrid to a situation that not only confirms her mother has been telling the truth about the paranormal the whole time,  but also stuck in the Afterlife with the possibility of never being able to return. 

With no hope of getting her daughter back, Lydia is forced to go to the one creature she’s been afraid to face for the last thirty years, Betelgeuse.

Though the nostalgia in this film is fun, the silly humor refreshing, and the performances of the entire cast perfectly executed, most notably Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and Justin Theroux delivering one of the best annoying character performances I have seen if late, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice lacks the the cohesiveness and memorable, quotable moments of its predecessor. With the exception of Betelguese lip syncing Richard Marx, and any scene involving Bob, it just doesn’t pack the same punch. 

Monica Belucci and Delores’ storyline are completely wasted. If you removed that character entirely, it would have had zero effect on the film at all. And the same could ring true for Willem Dafoe’s character, Wolf Jackson. The idea behind her succubus character laying claim to Betelgeuse’s soul is fun and interesting, it comes off as  pointless with Monica Belluci basically wandering around hallways in the Afterlife the entire film occasionally asking for Betelguese and sucking out a couple of souls. 

The big gaping hole in the entire film and the ONE THING besides Betelguese that every fan of the first film wanted to see, was Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam (Alec Baldwin). The deceased couple that haunted the house in Winter River that gave Lydia the ONLY parental warmth and guidance in her life and introduced her and US to this wacky and blacklight reactive life after death, were entirely absent save for one throw away line. All we are given is that they “found a loophole and moved on”. I felt robbed of the chance to at least see this loophole in action and Lydia dealing with that loss more so than the loss of her somewhat neglectful parents.

All in all, this was a somewhat fun jaunt of a film that in no way lived up to its potential nor to the legacy of the first. There was so much to work with, and yet, it truly felt “Half-Juiced”.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

In Theaters Everywhere