Well it's 2024, and that means that movies like this get a 10 of 10 even though back in the 90s, 00s, 80s, they would get maybe a 5/10. The good news is, save a mention of meh, Climate Change it is basically Meh politics free. There is no lecturing. It makes no attempt to shame the audience for being male, straight, white, Christian, or Jewish. All it does is try and entertain the viewer... and I appreciate that. And, honestly, I can see Ortega as Ryder's daughter. I really can. I know there's a racial thing going on there but, honestly, personality wise, it was really the perfect casting. Especially for her daughter in the Beetlejuice world. It was just spot on casting and though Ortega doesn't do a 1:1 capture of Ryder's attitude in the first movie, she is close enough where I'm primed to believe it. However... the red pen is your friend. Bellucci should have ended up on the cutting room floor, you didn't need that plotline. Dafoe should have been rewritten to exclude the Bellucci line. The focus should have just been on Ortega and Ryder and the Deetz family again. It tried to do too much and the result was that you didn't really become invested in any of the plots. But, again, in 2024 eyes, it's a good flick compared to the political crap everyone else is making.

"Lydia" (Winona Ryder) has made a good living from her ghost-hunting style books and broadcasts much to the sceptical chagrin of her teenage daughter "Astrid" (Jenna Ortega) but they have to try to get on for the funeral of "Charlie" who was married to their mother/grandmother "Delia" (Catherine O'Hara). Meantime, in the underworld "Delores" (Monica Belluci) has quite literally stapled herself back together and is bent on reuniting with her eponymous husband (Michael Keaton) but he's les than enthusiastic at the prospect. Luckily, the young "Astrid" meets the handsome "Jeremy" (Arthur Conti) and before we know it, she has opened a portal to the nether world that soon has her mother racing around to rescue her from eternal damnation whilst the opportunistic stripey fellow tries to use that predicament to keep himself from his ruthless spouse who is leaving an increasingly gruesome trail of carnage for TV detective "Wolf" (Willem Dafoe) to sort out. There are plenty of enjoyable enough shenanigans going on as this quickly paced film knits these threads together, but somehow I found it all just a bit too flat. Like an "Addams Family" film that's over-written and doesn't feature anything like enough of Keaton or Dafoe and features way too much of Ortega's typically teenage character whom Hades probably wouldn't have wanted. It does rally well at the end with help from a big cake and the dulcet tones Richard Harris - great to hear that with cinema sound again, but aside from a characterful effort from O'Hara this didn't really want me saying his name once let alone thrice. It's fine but hasn't much spark.

An enjoyable second helping of <em>'Beetlejuice'</em>. <em>'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice'</em> isn't far adrift the original, even if I'd still rank the first film higher. I gotta say those behind this did a good job with the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6yDanmWI1E" rel="nofollow">teaser trailer</a>, I hadn't even seen the 1988 flick but that got my interest. Speaking of trailers, I'm glad they changed that cringey pilates instructor line for Astrid - right call! Michael Keaton remains the best cast member, though Winona Ryder and newcomer Jenna Ortega are not far off. Willem Dafoe doesn't feature much but naturally still manages to be one of movie's strong points. Justin Theroux's character didn't really do anything for me, while Monica Bellucci feels a little underused but perhaps not; what we get from her as Delores is still decent and arguably enough. Sounds like Tim Burton doesn't want to another sequel, which is probably for the best but if the studio wanted to go behind his back I, I'm afraid, would have to allow it on this occasion strictly for the obvious title possibility. Though I guess the ritual has already occurred with the two titles combined. Fairs.

Having recently watched the original in anticipation of this film, I was struck by just how lean it was. In comparison, this felt bloated with too many subplots that lead nowhere.