Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Film Review

 Have to admit I hadn't seen Tim Burton's original film since it played at cinemas 36 years ago, and took the opportunity to revisit a few days ago, in anticipation of  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hitting the silver screen. Happy to report I still find the first film to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience and had an even better time with this new release. While I accept opinions that there may be a few too many plot points going on here, I really had no problems going with the flow. The presence of characters from the first film - Delia and Lydia are even more of a delight this time round - and new faces such as Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci as Delores score highly; the latter delivers a wonderfully physical turn and her entrance alone  may well be  worth the price of your ticket!

The man himself is driven by another memorable turn by Michael Keaton, introducing new tricks to his repertoire, while being just as obnoxious as ever and Ortega, for me, is an unqualified success as the sceptic who is forced to do a 360 as events make it clear her mom knows best.  A second viewing may possibly endear Dafoes' character to me even more and there's so much else to look forward to with regard to a repeat performance. Danny Elfman's score really captures both the tragic aspects of this story and the screwball comedy on offer here, while the use of 'MacArthur Park' and a spooky rendition of Harry Belafonte's 'Day-O' will both live long in the memory. It's also great to see Tim Burton continue his career-long admiration of the late, great director Mario Bava. The opening shot of the monochrome sequence is straight out of Black Sunday/Mask of Satan, and also pleased to catch both a namecheck and a scrapbook reference to my favourite Bava film. Do try to see this on the big screen, if circumstances permit. It's quite a ride!