Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Movie Review

Cast: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux

Director: Tim Burton

Tim Burton's return to his beloved Beetlejuice offers a visual allegory to proceedings early on.

As Monica Bellucci's dismembered body parts fall from various boxes, they begin to be stapled back together to visually resemble a Corpse Bride with the help of a detached hand.

There's much of a feeling of pieces being pulled together through the film - and sadly seeing them stapled together in the hope of resembling something cohesive too.

Much of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels ramshackle and messy, a story that's more thrown together throughout. But in parts that manic scattershot approach works well - it's just that there's not enough of it of Burton's mania to keep it going.

Years after the demonic sprite Beetlejuice tormented the Deetz family, they've moved on in different ways. Winona Ryder's uptight Lydia is now a spirtualist ghost hunter with a shoddy TV show that trades in cheap jumps and bumps in the night. As if that's not bad enough, she's still seeing glimpses of Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice and dealing with a fracturing relationship with teen daughter Astrid (Ortega).

When news of her father's death comes through, the clan is forced back together to the old house to say goodbye - however, when Astrid makes a fatal mistake, Lydia is forced to call on Betelgeuse for his help.

There's an awfully long time spent setting up at the start of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, with plenty of characters being brought in and left wanting towards the end, spinning in their own confused narrative web. (Chiefly Bellucci's bride is introduced as a major threat at the start, only to disappear for the majority of the film.) And with one plotline feeling very familiar to this year's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, there's a real feeling of deja vu throughout.

But when Burton cuts loose with his more manic visual edges, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is an absolute surreal delight, a concoction of the macabre with some brilliant visual gags. From a swipe at a former US president to some sight gags that are throwaway but genius via some pastiches of Spanish horror, much of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels like it's a manic finger to what a sequel should be. 

When Keaton fully makes his appearance as the sprite nearly 1 hour in to the 1hour 45 minute run time, it's a sign that everything's on edge and you're not quite sure where the zaniness will go next. It's an electric frisson that sets Beetlejuice Beetlejuice alight when it's desperately needed.

Equally Willem Dafoe's former actor turned afterlife cop feels like a series of gags that shouldn't work, but given how much ham is thrown at the screen, he manages to make the role enjoyable throughout.

There's a lot of nostalgia in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - from the opening shot swirling over a model village to Danny Elfman's wonderfully evocative score. There's no doubting Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a Tim Burton joint with animation, puppetry and practical sets - but when it all ends, there's a distinct feeling that you wish there was just more of him in it.