Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres this Friday is the long awaited and much anticipated film from director Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures is the return of BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE.

Divorced Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is now making her living by hosting a talk show about the supernatural called Ghost House. Boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) is helping Lydia by being the producer of the show. During the latest taping, Lydia thinks she sees someone frighteningly familiar! Right after, she receives word from Delia (Catherine O’Hara) that dad Charles has passed. Driving back to Winter River, Lydia and Delia pick up daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) from school.

Not happy about Rory’s timing to propose to her mom, an already moody Astrid runs off only to meet young Jeremy (Arthur Conti) in a treehouse! Wanting to come back to life, he tells Lydia he can help see her dad who disappeared in the Amazon. When things go horribly wrong, Lydia has no choice but to say those three words bringing back the one person who has conditions to everything before agreeing to help. Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) says yes to help find Astrid but wants a few things from Lydia, all while avoiding ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci).

The twists and turns are insane as Lydia deals Jeremy, Delia deals with Rory, Astrid deals with everybody and Beetlejuice, well, he is going to do things his own way!

Keaton as Beetlejuice jumps into his role but seems a bit more sensitive this time. He doesn’t seem as vindictive but still has his motives for everything he does. The introduction of his ex-wife gives Beetlejuice a bit more vulnerability. That being said, Keaton is and will always be Beetlejuice who everybody loves so much. There is nothing about him playing this character that just isn’t amazing.

Ryder as Lydia shows a more grown up and now a mother herself. In the first film she was not afraid of anything and made it clear she was ‘strange and unusual’. The adult Lydia is a bit more passive but picks up the character of Lydia with ease. Ortega as Astrid fit the role perfectly but it seems that it’s her thing to play the strong-willed outcast who is angry at everything. It’s easy to see her playing this role as she already stunned in the role of Wenesday Adams. Both characters are dark so it makes sense.

O’Hara as Delia is still wacky in her own unique way. She is still and artist doing her own abstract pieces but takes the role of grandparent very seriously. Theroux as Rory is so weird and it is interesting to see him in this role. Think of the hippie in WONDERLUST and add darkness and you have Rory. Conti as Jeremy feels like the most interesting introduction to the film. He does an excellent job in taking us on the ride of his story in the film.

Other cast include Burn Gorman as Father Damien, Danny DeVito as Janitor, Filipe Cates as Vlad, Santiago Cabrera as Richard and Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson.

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is a film that fans have been waiting for since 1988. I won’t do the math because it will age me (as if I need any help with that). I remember taking my kids to see the film when the original came out and then we saw it again, and again, then bought the VHS (no laughing) then DVD’s and Bluray wearing all of them out watching the film. So, when I say the new film couldn’t have come at a better time, I mean it! Trust me also that I have not even talked about 3/4ths of what goes on in this film because I do not want to spoil it for anyone. Just know the excitement is real!

It is such a fun story staying true to its creepy, funny, family film roots. I can honestly say we are going to go back to the theatre to see it again. Part of the fun was the anticipation of seeing the film and dressing up accordingly. It is almost a moral imperative that one dresses up to see it. BEETLEJUICE has become so iconic and recognizable that you can be sure a lot of someone’s dress up like the character for Halloween.

Burton made sure that the film felt nostalgic with creatures from the original and meshing with a few cameos. On how he saw the new film, Burton says, “I tried to treat this movie like the spirit of the first movie where we had a script, but there was a lot of improve that went on. I waited so long because nothing ever clicked and I know it couldn’t have happened until now. For me, this became a very personal movie, like a kind of weird family movie about a weird family and it could only have happened for me after all this time”.

Oh, I’m sure I could nitpick about things here and there with the film but I won’t. Why? Because BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is why a lot of us go to the movies. This is total entertainment that doesn’t ask anything else other than to be entertained, laugh, remember and embrace a character that is totally outrageous (and has seeped his way into our hearts permanently). Burton, Keaton, O’Hara and Ryder did that all those years ago and once again they remind us that it is okay to be ‘strange and unusual’ because there are more of us than the world cares to admit.

So put on your best Beetlejuice duds and gather up the gang to go have an absolutely blast at the theatre this weekend and remember – you have to say it three times with feeling!

In the end – he is the ghost with the most babe!

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