Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Spoiler Thread

[Eric the Marxist]

The juice...is loose.

[CJohn]

The cast is vibrant. Tim Burton is having fun. The vibes are good. A few inspired sequences (flashback and wedding). An all around crowd pleaser.

[Flopped]

I enjoyed it. 3/5 

Nice to see Winona Ryder in a major role and not sidelined. 

[wattage]

The wedding was a really fun sequence, my favorite one of the movie and Delores putting herself together.

 

Overall I think the movie had a bit too much going on, it felt convoluted at times but when it almost lost me in the weeds it would do something charming and bring me right back. Maybe trimming out Lydia's fiancee would've done it. But the cast, the great set design, the fact that it's a visual treat and still so fun, that all carries it across the finish line. 

[ddddeeee]

Good fun. Scrappy in the right ways (and some wrong ones). I was giddy during the flashback sequence, the wedding scene and the end dream. I couldn't believe I was seeing some of that stuff in a movie hoping to make $100M this weekend. I loved that they compensated for Beetlejuice having to be more PC by having some nasty stuff happen elsewhere. It felt like it had a bit of bite in that way. I appreciated that it had it's own plot(s) and it wasn't content to riff on the original. Some little swings worked, some didn't, but I was happy they at least tried.

 

As much as I did enjoy it, I still feel like modern Burton held old Burton back from making this more than good. More than any other Burton film, this reminded me of Big Eyes: Burton seems so intent on avoiding melodrama that he ends up avoiding...drama. Astrid and Lydia's reunion with Dad was begging for a bit more breathing space. And Delia's leaving at the end really warranted more than what we got (and all three actresses would've killed it).

 

Poor Bob.

 

[wattage]

Pour one out for Bob. It just hit me that he died for real. It felt like the movie moved past it so quickly part of me felt it would get reversed or that he was still partially in there and then I forgot I even had those thoughts until just now lol. 

[dudalb]

I presume there is some tribute to Harry Belafonte somewhere along the line.

[Ryan Reynolds]

didn't they shoot this during most of the writers strike? script felt like an unfinished draft

[John Marston]

I heard Jeffrey Jones' character gets referenced a lot. That is certainly a choice

[ddddeeee]

6 hours ago, John Marston said:

I heard Jeffrey Jones' character gets referenced a lot. That is certainly a choice

Not when you see how they do it.

[Krissykins]

I really enjoyed it, very nostalgic. Catherine O’Hara MVP, she had me in stitches.

 

Theres a few too many characters and subplots though, Willem Dafoe for example, you could remove every scene of his and the film wouldn’t change at all. Monica Belluci had very little to do. 

[CoolioD1]

it was decent which is enough of a win. It took me a while to lock in to it the family drama wasn't super engaging for me, but when all the main characters were in the afterlife I was having a good time. I liked how gross it was, I was surprised it was bloody for a 12A.

Edited September 7 by CoolioD1

[emoviefan]

Did really enjoy it and it was a solid fun watch but not as good as the original. It was just too  busy and had too many subplots with each main character having a story line that had to be resolved. The best scenes were the wedding with  OG Dumbledore singing and the Carrie inspired fakeout dream ending. The minute that music started playing and everything  seemed all happy I was like nope. And yeah the grossness with some of the blood and the mutant Beetlejuice baby kind of pushed up against the PG-13 I think.

Edited September 8 by emoviefan

[Killimano3]

Thought this was great! Definitely suffered a bit from having way too many subplots and characters though. Honestly none of them were bad though, just underdeveloped a bit. I would've rather them make the movie a bit longer rather than cut any of them out

[Cmasterclay]

Second half was really great fun, first half more mixed but it got there for me. I had a very good time. Nice to see a 100m OW that has actual "jokes" and "bits" and not just sarcastic jokey voice line readings.

[emoviefan]

I might listen to Mcarthur Park on a loop. Something I did not have on my 2024 Bingo Card.

[AniNate]

I was disappointed by the weak resolution of the Bellucci subplot but it's largely a good time. Winona and Jenna make an appealing mother/daughter combo and O'Hara is as fun to watch as ever. Nice to have one of these "suburban adventure" type of movies making bank at the box office again.

[filmlover]

The original Beetlejuice remains both one of my favorite comedies and favorite Tim Burton movies, and I'm pleased to say that I found this to mostly live up to its predecessor's legacy while also providing the most engaging film from Burton in many years. So many great set pieces: Delores putting herself together set to "Tragedy," the black-and-white Italian flashback, the sing-along wedding that's this movie's "Day-O" ("MacArthur Park" isn't leaving my head any time soon), the hilarious "nightmare within a nightmare" ending. The production values are as striking as the ones from 36 years ago, and I also dug that Burton wasn't afraid to go to some truly demented places for a studio movie in the 2020s at times (I totally predicted the twist that Jeremy was a ghost boy Astrid could see from the moment he appeared, but didn't anticipate the additional revelation that he was a murderer while alive lmfao).

 

Michael Keaton has clearly been itching to return to this character over the decades as much as Burton has, and he doesn't miss a beat in matching the zany energy of his first go-round despite Betelgeuse being somewhat neutered in some aspects due to the changing times. Winona Ryder also steps back into this universe as an older version of iconic goth teen Lydia with total ease, while Catherine O'Hara once again makes a strong case for being the funniest person alive and Jenna Ortega fits this world perfectly. Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux are fun as antagonistic figures to the main characters, and even though he's ultimately underused, Willem Dafoe is a delight in his handful of scenes. Great cameo from Danny DeVito. I also thought it was inventive how they managed to get Charles in the movie without having the participation of Jeffrey Jones cause of, uh, obvious reasons.

 

I won't disagree that it's a bit convoluted with too many storylines going on, but I had such a blast revisiting these characters and this world that I can't complain too much. Considering such untimely sequels are always gambles prone to faceplanting, I'm glad to report that this one was worth the wait.

 

RIP Bob, though. A legend who deserved a better ending. And just watch, that creepy Baby Beetlejuice is going to be the most requested toy for children this Christmas lol.

 

B+

[SnokesLegs]

Thought this was okay, although it definitely suffered from far too many sub plots when it should have focused on Lydia and Beetlejuice. The whole Monica Bellucci character was utterly pointless, she added absolutely nothing to the film other than filler scenes to pad the runtime, and also, why couldn’t she just say “Beetlejuice” three times to make him appear rather than searching endlessly for him? It felt like a bunch of different script ideas were smashed together but just didn’t come together as well as they should have.

 

I was entertained by the film for the most part though, and I’d watch another one which I’m guessing WB will be begging Burton for after this weekend, but it was nowhere near as fun or inventive as the original. If they do make a third, I hope they just let Burton go full weirdo with it.

[MOVIEGUY]

Really enjoyed this, just good fun and Beetlejuice as a character is still a god damn hoot, Michael Keaton still clearly loves this part. Takes a little while to get going and the plot's pretty rinky dink, which so is the plot of the first one so it's fine. The children's choir singing Day-O was hilarious and honestly a little moving.