The Juice IS Loose! And I'm Lovin It.

I have been impatiently waiting for the release of the Beetlejuice sequel for ever - honestly, I say that with full emphasis because since the ending of the first movie left off with the Juice on the couch I had always hoped another film would eventually be made. The fact that it took this long to happen was a little surprising considering how popular the Beetlejuice movie was and the cartoon that came after it, but the announcement that a good portion of the original cast along with Tim Burton and Danny Elfam were all returning brought me nothing but pure joy. A sequel isn't always an easy thing to do, and often they are entire misses with a beloved story and set of characters like Beetlejuice boasts making the mark count is a challenge. However, you can rest assured that Michael Keaton brings the same energy and comedy to his reprisal as is encountered in the first and he does it with perfect presentation.

Winona Ryder's return to her role as Lydia Deetz is one that I both connected with and also felt held a bit of a disconnect from who she was and who she was meant to be in the role of a parent after losing a person who Lydia finally felt she could be herself with and every challenge she maneuvered through as she finds her way back to being the ‘little goth girl’ who we all know and love, but this time she's not just bold and eccentric Lydia who can see and talk to ghosts, but unsure, career-centric Lydia whose sole concern is the welfare of her daughter - a daughter who she doesn't feel understands her or believes her, and who seems to resent everything about having her as a mother. It makes for a unique set of overlapping storylines where the relationship dynamics between the characters along with the backstory given that had never been delivered before all push the plots (and subplots) forward to mesh into the perfect display of Burton Bizarre Beauty that everyone has come to know and love.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐This movie, though it took decades to come to fruition - was completely worth every second it was absolutely wonderful to see Michael Keaton come back and reprise a role that has become notoriously beloved globally for nearly 40 years.

Adding to that is the magic that comes with Tim Burton's creativity and Danny Elfman's musical genius, and I feel that the movie was absolutely everything I could have ever wanted for the character of Betelgeuse and for the character of Lydia Deetz.

I was very pleased to see that the missing characters, such as Otho and Lydia's father, Charles we're not exactly missed but yet given some understanding of what occurred and how that worked into the entire family returning back to their original ghost house.

It was also nice to see the character of Betelgeuse moving from being a villain to more of an anti-hero in that he did something for others and for the welfare and good of others even though in the end it still resulted in him being vanquished from the earthly realm, and the lessons that Lydia learns about being a mother as it correlates to who she is and losing an essence of herself that even Delia recognizes she needs in order to be the empowered person that she was born to be given the abilities that she has with being able to see and speak with ghosts.

The introduction to Jenna Ortega's character in Astrid is perfect because it gives emphasis to something that isn't quite made much sense of in the first movie and that is when Lydia begins to see ghosts to start with and this film showcases that Astrid may also have the same abilities as her mother and not yet recognized them which I felt was a awesome to witness and that brought the A and B subplots from the story together in a very cohesive way.

I really enjoyed the movie I think it was one of the best sequels that I've seen in a long time and I am so happy to see that a great deal of the original cast returned in order to make this happen for the fans of the Beetlejuice franchise.