"honours the passage of time and doesn’t go the de aging route to tell the story in a legacy sequel"

In 1988 Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice came to Cinemas fronted by the always excellent Michael Keaton and whilst he doesn’t have a huge amount of screen time (12 to 17 minutes approximately), his presence is felt throughout the duration of the film. Over the years, there has been talks of a sequel but they never got off the ground; that is until 2024 when the highly anticipated Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hit our screens.

So for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice we are transported back to Winter River, Connecticut to the familiar setting of the Maitland House, and whilst the Maitland’s don’t appear due to a clever in story loophole, the Deetz family return after the tragic and unexpected death of Charles – the patriarch of the family, what follows is a madcap adventure that has a lot going on with at least four plot threads going on at the same time, but they all come together in a fantastic way.

The returning cast of Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara all know their roles and it is great to see them all interact again in a film that honours the passage of time and doesn’t go the de aging route to tell the story in a legacy sequel, with Keaton’s Beetlejuice now the head of a Paranormal agency in the After Life akin to Juno from the original, O’Hara’s Delia is now a World renowned Artist and Ryder’s Lydia is a Paranormal expert fronting a TV show with her manager and boyfriend Rory played by the incredible Justin Theroux.

The new additions to the cast led by Jenna Ortega as Astrid are great fits to the story, and have plenty to do, Ortega has some great interaction with Ryder’s Lydia, whilst they are all wonderful, the stand out for me was Willem Dafoe’s Wolf, I won’t spoil what he is but it’s really funny and engaging.

The soundtrack from the legendary Danny Elfman, who is a consistent collaborator of Tim Burton’s is amazing, it enhances proceedings, as does the use of practical effects; I’m glad they went the route of practical effects, since that was part of the charm of the original and by keeping the effects practical, it really fits with the world created, and it doesn’t feel dated and these are things that are tangible and you can reach out and touch them.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a triumph, packed full of fun and whimsy, it’s great to be back in the world of Winter River, Connecticut and if there is a threequel, please don’t wait almost four decades to bring it to screen.