Yahoo Movies Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hailed 'a blast' as reviews celebrate Tim Burton's return
The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where critics hailed the sequel to the 1988 classic as a return to form for director Tim Burton.
Michael Keaton return as the crass, mean ghost Beetlejuice for the film, whose name is called three times once more when Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder, also returning) needs help saving her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) from the afterlife. They won't be alone in the endeavour as Catherine O'Hara also makes a comeback as Lydia's stepmother, while Monica Belluci, Willem Dafoe and Justin Theroux take on delightful new roles.
The cast stepped out in their finest at the Venice Film Festival on Wedneday, 28 August, with Ortega paying tribute to her onscreen mother's iconic look from the original film on the red carpet by wearing a red tulle gown reminiscent of Lydia's wedding dress. Ryder, meanwhile, opted for androgynous chic by wearing an outfit that matched a tailored suit jacket, waistcoat and shirt with a black chiffon skirt.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice received a 4-minute standing ovation at Venice, per Deadline, and critics were almost as delighted by the film as the cast were on the red carpet. Several described it as a joyride of a movie even if it at times can feel like a "piece of fan-service", though some were not as convinced by it.
Deadline's Stephanie Bubbury remarked on how amusing the film is because the cast were "obviously having fun to burn" whilst making it, and "a lot of the appeal of a Burton fantasy is that you just want to play in their yard."
The critic said the film is "a blast", writing: "The first Beetlejuice in 1988 captured imaginations because it was new, unlike anything else and deliciously tasteless while being, to be honest, pretty clunky. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is not clunky.
"Yes, there are plenty of animation joins that haven’t been smoothed over by CGI. Some of the props look like tat Burton bought in a flea market. But it also has a proper plot, full of twists and turns; a terrific cameo characters supporting the impeccable main cast."
Read more: The most exciting films at the Venice Film Festival 2024
Another fan of the film was The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney, who described it as "a clever sequel laced with hilarious callbacks to the 1988 original and amusingly eclectic pop-culture references to everything from Carrie to Mario Bava, from Soul Train to Donna Summer."
See the best photos from Venice's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice premiere
The critic adds: "Hollywood’s cynical strip-mining of successful IP in its quest for the everlasting franchise has taught us to be suspicious, so there’s something restorative for the audience, too, in experiencing a resuscitated screen property that’s actually fun — not to mention one that asserts its own reason to exist."
Rooney also celebrated Ryder's return to the franchise, saying she "goes beat for beat with Keaton" and is able to transport viewers "back to the enchanting screen persona of her late teens... in which she radiated a singular mix of smarts, sweetness and innocence but was just as effective when she veered into darkness."
Variety's Owen Gleiberman felt similarly pleased with the film, though he described it as being "ghostly fan service" that is "doesn’t give you the full monster-kitsch jolt that the original film had".
Even so, the critic wrote: "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."
There were those who were not as amused by the film, though, with The Independent's Geoffrey Macnab giving the film just two stars and arguing that it doesn't "tell a coherent story" in this sequel.
Macnab wrote: "Production and costume design are stellar, but the film’s script – credited to Alfred Gough and Miles Millar – is uneven. At points, the anarchic comedy gives way to surprisingly clunky sentimentality, while the acting sometimes leaves much to be desired."
The Guardian's Xan Brooks also gave the film two stars, writing that the sequel felt like "a game attempt to reanimate the bones of the director’s beloved 1988 horror-comedy".
Brooks said: "It’s once, twice, three times a lazily amiable horror sequel; a makeweight festival opener that provides little beyond its arrangement of chintzy American Gothic... this long-time-coming sequel doesn’t add much to the myth, nor push the tale in any radical new direction.
"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."
Despite some negative reactions, for Burton it was a joy to reunite with his original cast because the film is so "personal" for him. In a press conference for the film, he said: "So after all these years being able to work with Michael, Winona and Catherine again made it more personal and special along with Jenna, Monica, Justin and Willem — new people who got into the spirit of it... it was a very personal project.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice premieres on Friday, 6 August.
