Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. 2024. USA. Directed by Tim Burton. Screenplay by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar. With Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega. DCP courtesy Warner Bros. 104 min.
Returning to the big screen after a five-year break, Tim Burton has reignited his creativity by collaborating with old friends on a joyful sequel to his 1988 classic. Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara return, joined by Jenna Ortega and a very funny Justin Theroux, as we catch up with Lydia Deetz (Ryder), now the host of a supernatural TV talk show, who is still plagued by visions of her old frenemy Betelgeuse. Burton wisely deploys Betelgeuse in limited doses, and Keaton’s ability to steal scenes is still very much intact almost four decades later. The finale, featuring the cast singing along to Richard Harris’s rendition of “MacArthur Park,” is a strange and endearing capstone (headstone?) to the film and the ensemble.