All I can really do here is speak my truth and not worry about whether people agree with it or not. As a man who has a nine out of ten review for "Beetlejuice" logged on this website, I can only report that I found this sequel to be bit of (though not totally) a mess.
Following the death of her father, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) returns to her childhood home, with her stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara), boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) and daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Lydia, still able to see ghosts, has been having visions of Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), which only intensifies as she returns to the house. But Betelgeuse has his own problems, related to the return of his vengeful ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci) who has the ability to extract the remaining souls of the dead - and make them 'dead dead.'
What I found really interesting was that for years, Burton and Keaton steadfastly refused to engage in a sequel unless the story was right. Then for this to be the one they progressed with, which feels more like a bundle of ideas gaffer taped together than an actual story. There are four main plots, two of which could have been exorcised (pun intended) partially, or even completely without making much of a difference. It feels like they're there only so there's an excuse for particular actors to be in the film. It's also a bit too enamoured with recreating moments from the original, so there are two gags that are slight variations on previous ones and another song and dance possession scene, which is a strong moment, but again, just a remix of the first film.
Almost single handedly Keaton drags the film to being acceptable. They smartly keep his character out of the majority of the film so that when he does appear he's a breath of life, but it's a shake up the film needs all too often and I don't think I found anything anyone else did to be funny.
As you can see from the score, despite how negative this review feels, I wouldn't say I disliked the film overall - but it feels all too close to being the 'cash grabby' sequel we could have had at any point in the last 30 years.
