Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to Tim Burton’s hit movie Beetlejuice, came out on Sept. 6, 2024. The first movie came out on March 30, 1988. Tim Burton directed both films, and both casts feature Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, and Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice. All actors play the same roles as in the first film, alongside new actors like Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Monica Bellucci as Delores, and Arthur Conti as Jeremy.
The movie starts 36 years after the first one. Throughout the first part, we learn that Lydia has a new boyfriend, Rory (played by Justin Theroux), after her ex-husband and the father of her daughter, Astrid, dies on an expedition to the Amazon. It is also noted that Lydia’s father, Charles Deetz (played by Mark Heenehan), was killed by a shark after a plane crash. At the service, Rory proposes to Lydia and sets their wedding date for Halloween. This upsets Astrid, and she goes to ride her bike. She ends up crashing into Jeremy’s fence, and the two hit it off, which causes Lydia to realize she’s losing her daughter.
During all that, we discover that Beetlejuice has been sent to work in the Netherworld. He reminisces about Lydia for a minute before we are told that his ex-wife, Delores, is on the loose and is hunting him so she can steal his soul for a ritual she has to complete. When Beetlejuice is summoned for the first time in the movie, it is because Rory decides Lydia needs to get over her irrational fear of Beetlejuice and says his name three times. This is the key point in the movie when everything starts to happen.
At the end of the movie, we learn that Jeremy is a ghost who killed his whole family and is trying to get Astrid to trade places with him so he can be alive again. There’s a scene where Lydia is trying to get Astrid back and Beetlejuice helps her by stamping the wrong stamp on Jeremy’s passport. Afterward, during Lydia and Rory’s wedding, Beetlejuice crashes it and has a whole montage of dancing to “MacArthur Park” by Donna Summer. During this, Rory and Delores get eaten by a sandworm. Lydia eventually breaks free and banishes Beetlejuice back to the Netherworld. Lydia and Astrid mend their relationship and everything is good.
This movie, while not as good as the first one, was funny and generally enjoyable. Many parts made everyone in the theatre laugh hysterically. It also had some very sweet parts and had many different positive themes to it. Overall, this movie was a good experience and very enjoyable. A lot was going on throughout, but it all ties together nicely in the end.
