On March 30, 1988, the first Beetlejuice was released. The movie earned $8,030,897 during its opening weekend. It was a big hit, and the fans loved it. The movie was a commercial success, even winning an Oscar for best makeup. Since the movie did so well, Director Tim Burton decided to produce a Beetlejuice sequel years later.  

On September 6, 2024, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was released. Before watching the movie, I did not know what to expect. I had not watched the first movie, so I was not sure if I would really understand it. Although I usually like to watch different genres like drama and romance, I was super excited to watch the movie. It was getting a lot of good reviews, and I had hoped it would live up to its expectations.  

The movie opened with Lydia (the main character) seeing Beetlejuice at her live show, and she was more than startled. The look on her face showed not only fear but terror. Seeing Beetlejuice in her mind made me infer that Beetlejuice would soon be released and come to haunt Lydia because he was still in love with her. 

The story then shifts away from the living and heads down to the afterlife, where all of the ghosts are. Here, the audience was introduced to Delores, the soul snatcher who is looking for Beetlejuice after she just stapled herself back together. To my surprise, that was actually his ex-wife. With the new knowledge gained regarding the characters, I thought maybe the movie would be about Delores trying to find Beetlejuice. In reality, the movie was about saving Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, from the afterlife. 

The movie had no beginning plot. The creators of it left the audience thinking about what the movie really would be. All of the open story lines in the opening minutes made the movie seem all over the place and not very organized. 

Towards the middle of the movie the graphics were weird but in a good way. The movie itself was live action, but Burton utilized cartoons for about a small five-minute portion to highlight a death of one of the key characters. The use of both types seemed all of the place but considering that Beetlejuice is all over the place himself it fits his character, and the role he plays. 

I felt like the movie took forever to get to the point of Beetlejuice. When seeing the title of the movie a viewer would assume the movie is going to be about him, but it was more focused on Lydia Deetz and her daughter, Astrid. 

I really liked how some of the characters were returning characters. Michael Keaton reprised his role as everyone’s favorite demon (Beetlejuice) and Winona Ryder returned as Lydia Deetz. This allowed the movie to connect to the first one and tie well together.  

Although the beginning and the middle of the movie had me confused, the plot twists and the ending were great. I love how her mom was willing to marry the man that haunted her most for her daughter’s soul to be saved. Despite the fact that they were at odds, her mom still stepped in to do whatever she could to save her daughter.  

Even though the movie took a long time to get to the point, the plot of the story was interesting. Burton was able to keep my attention for the entire 104 minutes. Although my attention was held, there were multiple times where I was questioning what was happening and how does this connect to the overall plot. 

I would recommend watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to anyone who is a fan of horror comedies as well as being lost in the plot. I rate this movie a 3.8/5 and I would watch it again.