I was really hoping that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice would be a quality sequel; obviously incapable of eclipsing the original, but be a reasonably good film that feels deserving to come after the iconic first one. Unfortunately, this is not that sequel.

As with any Tim Burton film, I enjoyed the effects, the costumes, the makeup and the production design. It definitely feels like being back in the world of the original film in terms of aesthetics. However, the plot is very convoluted; it is as if everything was thrown at a wall, and instead of it all sticking, it all slowly slides down the wall. It almost makes me wonder if this would have worked better as a limited series instead of a traditional film sequel since it tries to cover too much ground and only superficially does so for each character. The performances are reasonably fine, though I have seen most of the cast in better roles throughout their excellent careers.

One thing I did enjoy is William Dafoe's character Wolf Jackson's line "you gotta keep it real." It is perfectly placed in a film where Lydia becomes a "sellout," cheapening her gift for a TV show, driving a Tesla, dating a terrible guy who runs the show, who she reluctantly agrees to marry, in a wedding packed with influencers as guests that she never met. When Beetlejuice uses his power to make Rory tell the truth about why he pursued Lydia in the first place, it is one of the most real moments of the entire film and of Lydia's middle-aged life.

I did have a few laughs here and there, and was grossed out a few times; both of these responses are perfect for a Beetlejuice sequel, as with the original. However, no amount of quality horror film references and easter eggs could make me feel the way I feel about the first film. I know that nostalgia in of itself creates bias, but in this case, the idea of the sequel is simply better than the reality.