After 36 years, the horror/comedy movie Beetlejuice has finally gotten a second movie. Written by Tim Burton, Beetlejuice originally came out in 1988. The movie follows the lives of Barbara and Adam Maitland, Lydia Deetz, and Beetlejuice. The second movie follows the lives of Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice, and Lydia’s daughter, Astrid.  Burton kept as much of the original cast as he could. Micheal Keaton as Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Catherine O’hara as Delia, and more were seen in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The movie hit theaters on September 6th, 2024. According to IMDb, the movie hit #1 in the Box Office within the first week, and had a $147 million budget. The movie has currently made $264 million so far.

During the movie, Astrid starts to live the same life her mother, Lydia, lived as a teenager, which scares Lydia. She doesn’t want her daughter to feel what she felt. Throughout the movie, Lydia uses Beetlejuice to help save her daughter from danger she didn’t realize she stepped into. Overall, the movie was amazing, with some parts that were rushed due to time crunches, including Lydia and Astrid’s timelines. Astrid is played by Jenna Ortega, who fits the role perfectly, as she also plays Wednesday Adams in Wednesday on Netflix.

The soundtrack in the second movie is very similar to the first, but one song sticks out. The iconic song, “Day-O!” is featured as one of the first songs in the movie. Day-O is a fan favorite song in the movie, as it brings character to the movie. The song is an upbeat song, but played at strange parts of the movie. For example, the song is played during the funeral of one of the characters. This is unexpected as the song is typically upbeat and fun. During the funeral, a choir sings the song in a lower pitch, to bring a sense of sadness to the scene.

The second movie is not exactly the same as the first, but there are many similarities and parallels to the first movie. For example, the beginning of the movie starts with the camera floating over the town and showing the houses around the home of the Deetz just like the first movie did. Beetlejuice keeps a photo of younger Lydia on his desk, which shows that he kept her in mind even after 36 years. Fans of the movie were torn on this approach. Some found it strange that he still thought about her, while others found it sweet. In the first movie, Beetlejuice gets a ring out of his pocket when he is marrying Lydia, and claims that “she meant nothing to me.” In the second movie, his ex-wife is seen wearing said ring on her finger. This parallels the first movie by bringing up the fact that he meant something to her, while she meant nothing to him.

Junior Kloe Farino saw the movie on opening day. “The movie differs because there is more focus on the dead in the living world and not the living in the dead world” Farino reflected. Farino saw the first movie in elementary school, which made her feel excited to see the new movie because she was reminded of her love for the movie. Although she loved the second movie, Farino states “I liked the first movie more because it is a classic and it is the original. There’s not much better you can get than the original.” 

Senior Donovan Schwartz recently saw Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice 2.  “I thought the movie was really good and visually appealing but I thought it lacked a good story line,” said Schwartz. He wishes he had seen both Adam and Barbara Maitland in the second movie. With their missing characters, the movie lacks what the first one created, which is a huge part of the story line. For a score on the movie itself, Schwartz stated “I thought it was a good movie overall but I’d give the score a solid 6.5 or a 7.” Again, this is due to the lack of the Maitlands and the story line being rushed. His favorite character is “Bob the tiny head dude” because “I think he’s funny.” Bob is a fan favorite character throughout both movies.

With the movie still being number 1 on the box office, it’s safe to say many others enjoyed the movie, and focused more on the new plot, rather than sticking to the old one.