Ah, yes. Yet another remake. When it was announced that Tim Burton would be remaking his 1988 classic, Beetlejuice, it was safe to say that the consensual reaction was an eye roll and yawn. But, unlike with most desperate remakes in Hollywood’s current age of banality, the original creator was returning, alongside (at least some of) the original cast.
Beetlejuice, like many of Tim Burton’s films, has garnered a cult following since it’s initial release back in the ’80s, simply due to its absurdly macabre costumes, set designs, and Burtonesque characters and soundtrack, submerged in a score by long time Burton composer, Danny Elfman, who returns for this latest installment.
Starring Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux and Catherine O’Hara, with returning star, Michael Keaton as the titular Beetlejuice, original cast members Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis did not make an appearance. And the result at the Venice Film Festival was an ambitious 4-minute standing ovation (but who even knows how genuine these minute long applauses are, as we now know from the Cannes Film Festival, even movies that suck can boast of receiving half hour long standing ovations). Although no official ratings have gone live on Rotten Tomatoes yet, the film currently has an impressive 8.2 on IMDB, and a 3/5 rating on Empire magazine.
Respected film site, Total Film, has called it, “A bit scattershot,” but concluding that, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun, afterlife frolic.” Indiewire has given the film a B+ rating, which, considering their high brow (though appreciated) commentary, that’s pretty outstanding.
Winona Ryder, darling of the ’80s both at the time and in contemporary retellings (Stranger Things, duh), feels like she should have been in Beetlejuice from the very start, and in thinking back, it almost feels weird that she wasn’t. And with Jenna Ortega having recently played Wednesday Addams in Tim Burton’s Addams Family spinoff, considering the overload of gothic elements with which Burton is notoriously obsessed, she felt like a shoe in for this role. Seeing Keaton returning as arguably his most iconic character of all time (other than Batman), it will be exciting to see Burton revisit his ’80s roots that made him famous, and one can only hope the movie actually is deserving of the ovation it received.
Brad Pitt and George Clooney’s Wolfs is set to premiere at the festival soon, with the former actually have been executive producer on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, although he was said to have ghosted the Venice premiere of the film.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice releases in theatres on September 6, 2024.
