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Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice… the famous bio-exorcist is back to haunt you. Burton’s trademark is indeed timeless, in the usually mundane world of trends. As someone who did not watch the first part to the film, I can safely say that the film is totally unexpected, even if I did watch the trailer. For some reason, while watching the film, I felt transported back to the whimsical world of Tim Burton in Kuala Lumpur where a host of playful, distorted, and peculiar artwork and exhibits were on display.  

In fact, one of the deaths of the characters in the movie was inspired by Tim Burton’s own nightmare. So, yes, as sources state online, it is a movie neverending in terms of ideas.

Later on in the movie, the audience is presented with one character proposing to another during a black day for someone else. While I was reminded of that similar scene during a Taiwanese Netflix film “Little Big Women”, the scene still felt awkward.

There’s some kind of enjoyment yet complete absurdity when you come across the “Soul Train” scene, which surely is a play of words referring to the dead as well as to the music genre, where these “souls” can be seen dancing to.

Perhaps, the things portrayed in the movie, though they can seem playful and fictionalised are indeed part and parcel of life. I am especially disturbed and intrigued by the scene where the character was seen literally patching herself up.  The usual thing to do when things are broken is to patch things up. But apply that to a fictional soul-sucking character, and you’d just be… speechless?

It’s one heck of a movie, with its largely fast-paced scenes, especially towards the later part of the movie. There’s a fair bit of musical references with a nod to groups and singer-songwriters including The Bee Gees, Donna Summer and Richard Marx.  How their music is wonderfully placed at the exact timing or moment is well-thought out.

The first Beetlejuice original film premiered in the late-1980s, with many of its original cast members reprising their roles. Michael Keaton plays the unforgettable Beetlegeuse or pronounced Beetlejuice, while Catherine O’Hara, the infamous mother in the Home Alone series, plays Delia Deetz and Winona Ryder plays Lydia Deetz. Other new faces joining the cast lineup are Jenna Ortega of  Netflix series, Wednesday Addams fame, Danny DeVito, who plays an afterlife janitor in the spooky work of fiction.

Rated P13, the film has a runtime of 105 minutes. Audio is mainly in English, although there’s also Spanish, Italian and a little French.