On September 6, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” premiered in theaters to the public. On September 5, they held a small premiere for the movie in which critics applauded the film for bringing back the iconic cinematic style of Tim Burton.
How it begins
It follows the adult life of Lydia Deetz and continues with the life of Astrid, Lydia’s daughter.
As Beetlejuice seems to keep appearing throughout the filming of Deetz’s TV show. Following the death of Lydia’s father, the Deetz’s go back to their house. Astrid finds out about the neighborhood by Adam and Barbara Maitland, and the story takes off from there.
The sets
One of the things that made Beetlejuice so iconic was the set. The set was made of the most seemingly random things.
In “Beetlejuice,” the grass in the cemetery wasn’t grass; it was a type of spiky foam that curved like long grass. When the Maitland and Deetz had to dig Beetlejuice out of the ground, they used real shovels. The one iconic thing was that once the foam– the grass– was pulled up there was dirt under it. But in reality, the dirt was cardboard covered with a thin layer of dirt.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” starts the movie with the model figure that Adam and Barbara made in “Beetlejuice.” It goes from the play model to the actual street and houses of the neighborhood where the Maitlands and Deetz lived.
I loved the departure scene with the subways because it reminded me of a party that would have happened in the 70’s.
Another thing that I loved is that “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is tied back to the first film; it follows the original story of “Beetlejuice” throughout the whole movie, and this often doesn’t happen with sequels. There isn’t one part of the movie that doesn’t fit the vibe created by the original. While some hit movie franchises decide to make a sequel that doesn’t capture the energy of the original, the “Beetlejuice” franchise did it right.
The Humor:
One of the other things that surprised me was that the humor was fitting with what the generation considers to be humorous today.
Before the release, I questioned whether or not the humor would be something that people would enjoy. While watching the movie I was amazed at how the movie was able to keep filming techniques that were used back in the day while combining elements with the film standards of today.
One example is when Beetlejuice goes into detail about his relationship with Dolores. The mood completely changed with the story; we went from a film with color to a scene that was in black and white and had humor and sound effects that were a mixture of both past and present-day standards.
My Review:
I would say that both “Beetlejuice” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” are unique in their way.
Although they share many features, the original is superior with the elements of set design and costumery– especially with teenage Lydia’s school uniform.
On the other hand, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice explored many different parts of the world within the “Beetlejuice” franchise that the series did not previously.
My final rating: ★★★★★
