Beetlejuice 2 - The Juice...Is A Little Stale

In 1988, Tim Burton directed the dark comedy Beetlejuice. More than 30 years later, the Juice has returned.

Giving spoilers in this one so be warned...

Burton movies have a certain flavor. One thing you cannot deny is how creative visually they are. They're both strange and unusual. It works for him with the right script. It worked well for Batman, but when they gave him free reign in the sequel...Well, he went FULL Burton. You don't want to go Full Burton. The edges are a little too dark, but again, still looks great.

The first movie was fun and a little campy, but in a Burton way. Keaton shined as the bio-exorcist...yeah I'm trying not to write out the name three times here. The character was on screen for only about 15 minutes of the 90 minute movie and he stole the show.

How was the sequel this many years later?

Eh.

I won't say I hated it, because I didn't. I won't say I loved it, because I didn't. I can't even say it was just okay because even with that, it falls short of the magic from the first one.

First off, it had a great cast. Keaton, Ortega, O'Hara...they were great with what they were given. Ryder, I wasn't really feeling her character as much as 80s Lydia. It felt like she was just going through the motions, walking through the part...*sings* nothing seems to penetrate my heaaaaaart! Sorry, Buffy reference. Had to...anyway...

This movie could have been fixed right off the bat with a few tiny changes.

The first being Monica Belluci's character and storyline. When I say it served little to no purpose, it served little to NO purpose. She was in the background doing her thing trying to get to the green-haired demon. She was an evil soul-sucker...who when she finally found the person she was looking for was defeated a few minutes later. You could take out all of it, and nothing would be lost from the movie.

The second is all the shrunken head guys. In the first one, Bob was there...and only Bob. Here, there was a small office full of them. The last thing this needed was a Minions problem. Being there for no reason other than cheap comedy. Could have just had the one as an assistant and be done with it. Because, once again, they served little to no purpose. Take them out, you lose almost nothing.

The main story wasn't too bad. The dad in the first one died and everyone comes back for the funeral. He had to die of course because the actor got into some very very big trouble. The fact they even showed his likeness was a shock.

The story mostly centers on Lydia and her sort of estranged daughter Astrid. Lydia is now on a TV show as a ghost medium and her daughter hates her mom because she can't communicate with Astrid's dad who passed away a year or so before...more on him later.

They all head back to the "Ghost House" as it's now called. Astrid rides into town and meets a boy...who should have been stretched and fleshed out. The minute you meet him, you know something is off with him. She finds him cute and interesting. The clues of what he is becomes more obvious...you don't see his parents fully when she walks through the house, he has a book 'Handbook for the Recently Deceased', and has a love for James Dean circa 1950s.

Yeah, you guessed it, he a ghost. Lydia finds out and before she can warn her daughter, Astrid's taken to the Underworld with the kid who promises she can see her dad again. Lydia goes to you know who for help and he agrees to help her as long as Lydia agrees to marry him...again.

Move on dude, she'd just not that into you.

The movie finally picks up speed here. The kid's intention was to trade souls with Astrid. He gets to become human again, and Astrid remains in the afterlife. They have to stop the dude from getting his passport to the real world stamped before it becomes permanent.

Lydia and the Juice stop it, while running into Astrid's father. Just popped up out of nowhere so he could tell them goodbye properly and to be cooler to each other because they're all they have left.

And here comes the climax of the movie, same as the original, Lydia must marry Bettle-guy. A long...long...way too long musical number with everyone begins. Seriously, this needed to be cut down. It was like Day-o only less enjoyable.

Monica Belluci's ghost and Lydia's fiancé (played by Justin Theroux and the absolute worst) get's taken out at the end of the number. A few throw away lines and the wedding gets called off due to contract being null and void.

All three 'villains' were dispatched way too quickly.

The movie just lacked the heart of the first. Keaton was watered down a little for modern times. The writing was rushed and the movie should have been edited down a lot more.

O'Hara definitely brought that Moira Rose energy to her character in this one. And I loved her for it.

Ortega embodied the daughter of Lydia Deets and moody teen energy. She was fine, but wasn't given a lot of substance. Ortega is a great actress, use her accordingly.

The bright spots of the film just couldn't light up this dank movie. It could have been better. It should have been better. The writers (Al Gough and Miles Millar) did 'Wednesday' which was phenomenal and 'Smallville' one of my favorite shows of all time. I know they're better than this.

It's a D-level movie at best.

Sorry Beetlejuice...2/5

Ooops.