“Nostalgia film” is a problematic genre. For every successful nostalgia film, like TOP GUN: MAVERICK a few years ago, the cineplex is littered with examples of movies that they should have just left well enough alone. A good example of this is the myriad attempts to revive the HALLOWEEN Franchise.
And then there is BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE.
Coming to theatres over 35 years after the original, this revival/continuation/sequel brings back the original Director, Tim Burton and 3 of the stars of the first film - Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder - and the results barely rise up to interesting.
Wasting the talents of O’Hara and Ryder…Burton adds Monica Belluci, Willem Dafoe, Santiago Cabrera, Burn Gorman and (in an extended cameo) Danny DeVito…all of whom try, gamely, to elevate weak material into something more.
The biggest disappointments was the waste of Jenna Ortega - fresh off her interesting, droll appearance as goth Wednesday Addams. One could get excited when thinking about that character/actress matching wits with Beetlejuice, but the character that Director Burton and writers Alfred Gough, Miles MIllar and Seth Grahame-Smith create is bland as rice and about as interesting as a Hallmark Christmas movie.
And then there is Michael Keaton reprising his role as Beetlejuice. Do you remember back in your college days the wild & crazy party animal that was always “a character”? Well…imagine that person 35 years later and still plying the same schtick. It was getting old then and it is pretty stale now…for nothing new happens.
And that’s the biggest problem of this film, Director Burton brings nothing new to screen, but makes sure he hits all the “Greatest Hits” notes of the earlier, popular, edgy film.
To be fair to this film, some of the bits land well. There’s a running gag with the shrunken-head guy,Bob, that’s pretty good - and Burton’s new take on the forced singing bit (remember the “Day-O” scene over dinner in the first film) gave me the only time I chuckled out loud - but these scenes are few and far between.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is a mediocre “nostalgia fest” that really could have used some fresh ideas blown into it.
Letter Grade: C+
5 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Comments