Considering it took the best part of 40 years for a sequel to Tim Burton’s cult classic Beetlejuice to come along – many fans of the original will have a fair few questions heading into the cinema.
Questions like “why now?”, “how do you pick up a story like Beetlejuice 36 years later?” and, of course, “will it be able to live up to the original?”.
That last question is one critics have been trying to answer since the movie’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, and it’s also one to which they’re unable to come up with a unanimous answer.
Some, it seems, have been fully bewitched by Tim Burton’s spooky sequel, while others have dismissed it as pandering or fan service.
To get a glimpse at just how divided the reaction has been so far, here’s a selection of what critics have had to say about the film…
“For all its spilling intestines and head-spinning demon babies, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels underpowered and throwaway. It’s a likable exercise in nostalgia; a joyride through old haunts. Burton’s underworld caper contains plenty of second-hand spirit; what it craves is fresh blood. What it needs is some substance.”
“Michael Keaton, barely ageing a day in his panda-eyed demonic get-up, if anything seems to have more energy than he did 35 years ago, bouncing off the purgatorial walls with hilarious gusto, lifting everything around him. The film is strongest when it remembers it’s a Tim Burton film and has licence to get weird.”
“Tapping into the maniacally playful spirit of one of his enduring golden-era hits, the director seems reinvigorated [...] It’s rewarding to have Burton back in full creative command of the humour, the fantastical imagination and the gleeful morbidity on which he built his name.”
“The movie is just a lightweight riff on Beetlejuice – a piece of fan service, really. It doesn’t give you the full monster-kitsch jolt that the original film had. Yet there’s good fan service and bad, and as stilted and gimcracky as it can sometimes be, I had a pretty good time at Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
“With its limp humour, canned sentiment, and over-egged efforts to gross us out, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a waste of a good cast and a defacement of a classic film’s legacy. Most galling of all, it was summoned willingly by people who should know better than to mess with what’s long been peacefully laid to rest.”
“Everybody here… is obviously having fun to burn. A lot of the appeal of a Burton fantasy is that you just want to play in their yard. But it’s also a blast just to watch [...] it also has a proper plot, full of twists and turns; a terrific cameo characters supporting the impeccable main cast; a meticulous spoof Italian horror film in the middle of it all; and a climactic musical number.”
“There are wonderful gags and some enjoyably grotesque clowning from star Michael Keaton, while Burton’s visual inventiveness hasn’t deserted him. But his ability to tell a coherent story is very much in doubt.”
“This sequel to Burton’s 1988 cracked pop masterpiece Beetlejuice doesn’t strive for greatness, or even your garden-variety over-the-top fantastical vision. Instead, Burton has just allowed himself to be silly and have fun; Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is filled with low-stakes wisecracks and kindergarten-style one-liners, but the effect works.”
“It’s a relief to report that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is more like a freakier, gorier and altogether slimier equivalent of Top Gun: Maverick. That is, it’s a sequel which has come along after 36 years, pays intelligent and affectionate homage to its predecessor, but surpasses that predecessor in almost every respect.”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a little scattergun, a little throwaway, despite its rambunctious feel [...] Still, there are some delicious moments.”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is kept to a pretty tight running time of 105 minutes, welcome in today’s world of bloated movies. However, that does mean that it’s sometimes a little frantic and disjointed. Especially with several sub-plots and stars to juggle. The film is a tricky one to define and determine – was I blown away by it? No, not quite. But that’s a tall order after 36 years of building nostalgia attached to the original.”
“No chance is wasted for an inventive visual or verbal punchline, and it is a joy to be in a handmade world that does not simply rely on CGI [...] Burton has thrown everything at the wall and then carefully sculpted what has slithered down into a rollicking yet disciplined supernatural caper with a heart.”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice manages to avoid the feeling that its only obligation is to dutifully run through everything familiar one more time. Instead, watching it is a small but significant relief, like reconnecting with an estranged friend and finding out that you still get along after all.”
“Not quite as poor as Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire nor as joyfully silly as Twisters, this latest ‘belated sequel’ has opened the Venice Film Festival with a giant shrug and the sense that the nostalgia business is certainly scraping the barrel.”
“Suffice to say that nobody does death like Tim Burton, and it’s a pleasure to follow him back into the underworld. You’ll leave the cinema and return to the world of the living with a spring in your step and a smile on your face.”
“[Beetlejuice Beetlejuice] haphazardly bolts together a series of half-formed ideas, each designed to heave one of the original’s wheels back into service [...] Even today – never mind in another 36 years – it’s hard to imagine anyone with the option of watching the source plumping for this.”
“Its story is intentionally robbed of dramatic weight, but this makes way for the goofy, imaginative practical effects of Burton’s early days, resulting in a small-scale legacy sequel that doesn’t take itself too seriously (because it doesn’t need to).”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits UK cinemas on Friday 6 September.
