‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’: What The Critics Are Saying About Tim Burton’s Sequel Starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder & Jenna Ortega
deadline.comBeetlejuice Beetlejuice had its world premiere this evening as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival. The film’s stars were out in force with Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux and Catherine O’Hara treading the carpet alongside director Tim Burton.
The sequel’s synopsis reads: “After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.” The original 1988 film, in which Keaton played a malicious spirit sent to drive out an unwanted family from their new home, was a comedy cult breakout garnering $75M at the domestic box office off a reported $15M budget.
But what are critics saying about the sequel? Deadline’s Damon Wise is a fan, describing it as “funny all the time” and “a blast to watch”: “The first Beetlejuice in 1988 captured imaginations because it was new, unlike anything else and deliciously tasteless while being, to be honest, pretty clunky.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is not clunky. Yes, there are plenty of animation joins that haven’t been smoothed over by CGI. Some of the props look like tat Burton bought in a flea market.
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