“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” premiered on September 6, 2024, as the sequel to the iconic 1998 film, “Beetlejuice”, and it drastically exceeded fans’ expectations.
The film played in theaters on its opening weekend, reeling in a staggering $110 million. It starred actors from the original film Winona Ryder, who returned to play the role of Lydia Deetz, and Michael Keaton, who came back to play Beetlejuice. Another actor included in the film was Jenna Ortega, who played Astrid Deetz.
“The cast was super good,” said Ella Reese, a junior at Wadsworth High School. “I loved Jenna Ortega, and I loved that they kept some of the original characters.”
Ortega did an outstanding job at playing Astrid, perfectly capturing the essence of teenage angst as well as her reasonable reactions to the chaos around her. The dialogue felt realistic instead of cringe-worthy. Other than Ortega, the acting was fairly good and it helped that some of the original cast returned for the sequel, perfectly capturing the essence of their character.
The stop motion effects returned from the first movie, keeping its cartoonish essence. It made the perfect contrast between scary and fun.
“I thought it was really fun and used a lot of different parts from the original movie, which was nice to see,” said Gabby Bailey, a senior at Wadsworth High School.
The pacing of the movie felt drawn out at first but soon picked up the pace. There were plenty of different subplots that were entertaining to watch, yet most of them felt unnecessary. These scenarios ended up creating plot holes and were often left unexplained and unfinished.
“A lot of people think that the plot was all over the place, and it definitely was, but I think that made it more interesting,” Reese said. “It kept you watching to see what would happen with each different plot.”
Overall, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was an incredibly enjoyable watch. It was entertaining and had a structured storyline as well as good humor. While it certainly felt a bit more toned down than the original, it was a great film nonetheless.
