Sequel to 1990s classic hits in theaters
More than two decades have passed and he’s back. From the creative and original mind of Tim Burton, Beetlejuice returns to theaters in a sequel that was longed for, but perhaps took too long to happen.
When the movie premiered in the 1990s, it was a tremendous success. In the story, Barbara and Adam Maitland die after a car accident, but instead of going to heaven, they are imprisoned in their old home. When a new family and their teenage daughter, Lydia, move in, the ghostly couple tries unsuccessfully to scare the new residents.
Their attempts at haunting attract a spirit, whose help becomes dangerous for both the pair of souls and the innocent Lydia. Beetlejuice is a type of spirit dedicated to exorcising human beings from the house that is being haunted. He is a complex and eccentric character who often ends up causing more problems than solutions.
There was a plan for a sequel, which was shelved several times by Warner Bros. Mainly because Tim Burton is involved in the production of Batman Returns. Time also passed and the plot of Beetlejuice fell by the wayside.
After decades, the work was adapted into another cartoon, with 94 episodes. The show completely reimagined the relationship between Lydia Deetz and Beetlejuice, with the two immersed in wild adventures in the “Neither World”. The Maitlands don’t exist in this spin-off, but Lydia has a cast of classmates and macabre friends such as a bodybuilding skeleton and a tap-dancing spider.
The charisma and talent of the cast is still one of the movie’s greatest assets
In addition, there is a successful musical play on Broadway (nominated for eight Tony Awards). But everything changed with the premiere of Wandinha, another Burton hit on Netflix. Jenna Ortega’s success in the role and the cast’s desire for a sequel rekindled interest in the project. After all, we are living in the era of Hollywood revivals.
In Ghosts Are Still Having Fun: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, we meet the Deetz family again years after their first encounter with Beetlejuice. With the death of the patriarch, Lydia is forced to face her greatest fear, even though she deals with ghosts and spirits as usual on her TV show. At the same time, the character tries to reconcile with her daughter, Astrid (Ortega), who is still grieving her father’s early death.
But when Astrid discovers the mysterious model of the city in the Maitlands’ attic, the portal to the afterlife is accidentally opened. And with it an opening for the demon to return to the world of the living!
The cast of the 1988 film is back, with Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara. This alone will arouse nostalgia and empathy among fans. The story also gains new characters with Justin Theroux as Lydia’s romantic interest, Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s terrifying, soul-sucking ex-wife, and Willem Dafoe as one of the underworld’s investigators and cops.
The film also carries all that is interesting about the sequence in particular and Burton’s work: some scenes travel through the picturesque, the gothic, the strange, and many musical passages that define the classic of cinema. The characters are also well-explored, although some of the relationships are superficial.
It’s a satisfying and long-awaited sequel, the problem is that it took too long. Perhaps too much time has passed. Interests have changed and so has cinema in general. That said, I would venture to say that if there had only been the first movie, the experience would still have been complete in the eyes of the public. But you can still have a lot of fun with the return of Beetlejuice.
