Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), the sequel to Beetlejuice (1988), was released on Sept. 6 in theaters across North America. After 36 long years, Tim Burton returned to direct an excellent sequel. Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara all returned to star as their classic characters Beetlejuice, Lydia Deetz, and Delia Deetz respectively.
“I did like the original, mostly because I liked Michael Keaton who was a very popular actor at that time and I had a friend who was a huge Michael Keaton fan,” said OH English teacher Tracey Contino.
Contino has been teaching English 4 Critical Interpretation of Literature Forms & Composition for many years now, gaining lots of experience analyzing films. “Winona Ryder…was a pretty popular actress at that time, too,” she said. “She was kind of neat to watch with her goth look.”
Students feel similarly about the uniqueness of elements in the film. “The plot really sets it apart,” said OH senior Nathan Barry, a student in one of Contino’s film classes. “I’ve never seen a plot like that.”
Tennille Johnson, another senior in Contino’s film class, recalled watching the original years ago. “I watched it when I was really little. When I first moved into my house here in Oswego, one of the first movies my Mom and Dad told me about was Beetlejuice and they were like ‘there was always this possibility that there could be ghosts like that in our attic.’”
Many viewers agree that Beetlejuice (1988) has a plot like no other. It’s special because it takes the generally morbid topic of death and adds a whimsical and humorous approach to the afterlife.
According to IMDb, the film Beetlejuice from 1988 had a budget of around $15 million while its sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had a budget of $100 million, almost seven times the amount of the older film. Additionally, IMDb gave the 1988 film a rating of 7.5/10 while the current rating of the 2024 sequel stands at 7.2/10.
“The style in Beetlejuice was just different. It was just edgy,” said Contino, “It’s that blend of gothic macabre with childhood fantasy and lightness.”
The same can be said about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) since it carried over many elements from its predecessor. However, elements like special effects and camera angles appear more polished in the sequel to appeal to a more modern audience.
“I feel like Beetlejuice 2 was more scary based on the fact that they have better CGI to make it look realer,” said OH senior Genesis Pierce, a former student in an acting course. “It was similar in many ways such as the actors’ storyline, location, and film style.”
Many people searched for the comparisons between the two films and despite what some may think, we believe that the films complement each other. Likewise, Johnson mentions that “Everything seemed to work and mesh together which I think was pretty cool.”
Although the films are similar, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a bad thing. Though Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) may have seemed repetitive, it was all intentional to bring back a sense of nostalgia from Beetlejuice (1988). The story line is related, but also updated to show growth in the franchise and characters. As a result, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) has the chance of becoming a generational movie where we grow up with the characters as the previous generation did with Beetlejuice (1988), especially if there were to be a release of a third Beetlejuice film.
I am a senior and this is my first year as a student journalist for 42Fifty. I currently play the trumpet in the OHS Marching Band and I am a member of BIONIC as well. I am excited for learning and gaining experience in journalism this year. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
