Some spoilers to follow...
I had an absolute blast with this sequel. The bonkers adventure is full of great humor and wonderful performances from the entire cast. I greatly enjoyed watching the film juggle all of the different character arcs and storylines, and I especially enjoyed the broken relationship dynamics between Astrid and Lydia, heightened by the deep chemistry between Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega. And it goes without saying that Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice was perfectly ridiculous as ever.
That said, I was I disappointed how the Delores thread ultimately didn't go anywhere, after opening with a great threat and juicy background. I was also a bit caught off guard by how the Jeremy thread suddenly came to a halt after spending so much time developing it and revealing the trap (I didn't see it coming but I imagine others did). As a result, the various arcs were a bit disjointed, but I still found overall tapestry was thematically effective.
I loved the little touches like how Lydia became an Elvira-esque host of a ghost hunting show (a genre that became rapidly and absurdly popular in the intervening years since the original film) while Delia of course became a performance artist to such a degree that would make JJ Caucus and Yoko Ono blush. And even though Jeremy turned out to be a murdering douchebag, I loved his treehouse!
Based on the trailers, I figured Burn Gorman would only appear in one or two scenes in the first act and that would be it, but I was pleasantly surprised that he had a significant supporting role to the point that he was part of the lip-syncing of Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park" sequence. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Santiago Cabrera pop up as Astrid's deceased father, Richard, although shamefully I couldn't place him until I saw his name in the credits.
Overall, the sequel is wonderfully bonkers if somewhat imperfect. Worth the wait and effort? Absolutely and I would do it again.
I had an absolute blast with this sequel. The bonkers adventure is full of great humor and wonderful performances from the entire cast. I greatly enjoyed watching the film juggle all of the different character arcs and storylines, and I especially enjoyed the broken relationship dynamics between Astrid and Lydia, heightened by the deep chemistry between Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega. And it goes without saying that Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice was perfectly ridiculous as ever.
That said, I was I disappointed how the Delores thread ultimately didn't go anywhere, after opening with a great threat and juicy background. I was also a bit caught off guard by how the Jeremy thread suddenly came to a halt after spending so much time developing it and revealing the trap (I didn't see it coming but I imagine others did). As a result, the various arcs were a bit disjointed, but I still found overall tapestry was thematically effective.
I loved the little touches like how Lydia became an Elvira-esque host of a ghost hunting show (a genre that became rapidly and absurdly popular in the intervening years since the original film) while Delia of course became a performance artist to such a degree that would make JJ Caucus and Yoko Ono blush. And even though Jeremy turned out to be a murdering douchebag, I loved his treehouse!
Based on the trailers, I figured Burn Gorman would only appear in one or two scenes in the first act and that would be it, but I was pleasantly surprised that he had a significant supporting role to the point that he was part of the lip-syncing of Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park" sequence. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Santiago Cabrera pop up as Astrid's deceased father, Richard, although shamefully I couldn't place him until I saw his name in the credits.
Overall, the sequel is wonderfully bonkers if somewhat imperfect. Worth the wait and effort? Absolutely and I would do it again.
I'd give it a B.
