On Sept. 9, 2024, Warner Bros. Pictures released “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” The film, a sequel to “Beetlejuice” released in 1988, stars returning actors such as Micheal Keaton and Winona Ryder and adds names such as Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe to the cast list.

Taking place 36 years after the previous film, the movie follows a much older Lydia Deetz, now a famous supernatural talk show host. The story’s action kicks off when she starts to see visions of the mocking and cocky ghost, Beetlejuice. I thought that the story this time around was similar but different. It felt like it was similar enough to where it could have all of the same goofy elements and tone of the first one, such as when Beetlejuice and other characters can almost pull off a Looney Toon effect of changing their appearance to something silly, but it also was its own story enough to where it did not feel like it was a redo of the first movie’s story. The pacing of this movie was nice as well, it was fast enough to keep the plot going for the whole runtime, but did not feel rushed either. I think this was done well because it is a family movie, so the studio knew that they need to keep the plot going to keep the younger audience entertained, which fits the tone of this movie because all of the characters are very high energy, which matches with a faster pace for the plot.

The acting in this movie was phenomenal. Keaton once again proves how wacky he can be in the role of Beetlejuice, and Ryder also did a great job at portraying Lydia again. Keaton is constantly cracking weird jokes that do not always land, which seemed to be done purposefully, and Ryder can portray the despair and fear of Keaton’s character that she has perfectly. I think Dafoe’s character, an actor turned cop, was a great comedic addition to the film as he was always the comedic relief to rely on. Jenna Ortega did a fantastic job at portraying Astrid as well. I have not ever been a huge fan of Ortega, but I thought she did well in other horror movies such as “Scream VI” and Ti West’s “X.” Ortega doesn’t always have the best acting skills when it comes to dialogue and plot, but I can say that I think she’s always good at portraying fear. So going into this, I thought she might give more of an average performance because this movie was going to be more of a studio movie rather than a directorial movie. But, I think Ortega did an excellent job.

This movie had good cinematography. I really enjoy the style that Tim Burton brings to all of his movies. There is no good way to describe it without visually seeing it, but it is a goofy and creepy style that is obscure, best described as cartoony and gothic. Tim Burton has a repeatable style that is recognizable in movies such as “Corpse Bride,” “Nightmare Before Christmas,” and now “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” The colors and tone were darker, which makes sense because it’s classified as a horror comedy movie. The movie also had that special effects feel of a Burton movie, even in the modern day where CGI is so high tech, almost like stop-motion animation like “Wallace and Gromit” for some of the creatures in this movie, like the sand worms.

Going into “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” I was expecting it to feel like a very forced sequel only made so that the studio could earn a few dollars and that there would be no heart and soul put into this movie. But, I was wrong. This movie felt like a genuine sequel, and it felt like it had its own identity. The plot was different while keeping the same characters and the same storyline, while doing a completely new story, like sequels should do. It didn’t feel like a copy of the original, which is a problem I had with movies like “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” where essentially the movie had the same plot and characters as the original, just with the addition of a few new characters.

Overall, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a family fun time that lives up to the name of the original classic, scoring 4/5 stars from me.