The 582nd film I have seen in theaters…

Spoilers below

The Deetz family reunites at their country home for patriarch Charles’ funeral. Lydia, now a tv ghost hunter/psychic begins having visions of Beetlejuice. As her daughter meets a cute local boy, the paranormal nonsense kicks into high gear as the “Ghost with the most” returns.

The returning cast, Keaton, Ryder, O’Hara all slip seamlessly back into their roles, particularly Keaton who hasn’t skipped a beat. Joining them this time are Jenna Ortega as Astrid, the daughter, and Justin Theroux as Rory, Lydia’s slimy boyfriend.

Our “villains” of the piece are several. All 3 did a fine job, but were the weak point in the film. Willem Dafoe is Wolf Jackson – the paranormal cop who is tracking down a deadly ghost who is eating souls. This leads him to Beetlejuice as the soul sucker is his ex-wife Delores portrayed by Monica Bellucci. We also have the neighborhood love interest for Astrid – Jeremy who turns out to be an evil murdering spirit.

I REALLY wanted this to be a home run, but we got a base hit, maybe a stolen second base. For a film that has been in various states of development since I was 10, you’d think the script would be fully refined. Alas, this is the central flaw with the film. There were 2 movies they were trying to make here. A film about Beetlejuice’s ex-wife seeking revenge and a ghost boyfriend for Astrid that turns bad. They could have done the boyfriend here and a whole separate film dedicated to Monica Bellucci’s shenanigans with Dafoe’s Wolf Jackson as a recurring character in both stories. I am sad that this did not happen. The end result is that Bellucci’s Delores was lost in the weeds. She had a wonderful introduction scene, a few cameos throughout, a beautifully done flashback to her life with Beetlejuice before death, and then her finale. This amounts to maybe 5 minutes or so of screen time. Wasted.

Now, this is not to say that this is a bad movie, quite the opposite. It just wasn’t a great movie. If you are going to dip back into this well, you need to at least be knocking on the door of greatness, otherwise why even bother? Make something new.

I loved the acting, the production and costume design, even the musical number that everyone is trashing. Macarthur Park is my favorite bad song and it was wonderful. The claymation and Italian flashback sequences were terrific. I just wish the story was better.

6/10