Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe
Rating: (M) ★★★
By AMASIO JUTEL
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Rialto, Reading) is a gentle return to form for Tim Burton, ditching CGI to reignite that colourful practical flair reminiscent of his earlier work.
Reviving the film that made Tim Burton a household name, anticipation had to be kept in check: it has been several decades since his last film worthy of critical acclaim.
Yet, when Danny Elfman’s iconic theme swelled, the camera swept over landscape shots of Winter River, and the titled credits rolled, it seemed like Burton was back.
Colourful sets, beguiling shots, and farcical physical humour; this oddity screenplay makes for an interesting potpourri of practical effect usage and playful cinematic rule-breaking, from subtitled mid-century flashbacks to lavish musical sequences.
The trepid mother/daughter dynamic from the original of Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) shifts to Lydia and her angsty-teen daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega).
Conceptually, the film continues Burton’s recent trend of poorly written scripts, shoving in an excess of half-baked characters in jumbled scenes with banal dialogue.
The titular character, whose name I am hesitant to repeat thrice, seems surprisingly silenced in this chaotic screenplay.
Every precious moment with Michael Keaton is bombastic, illustrative of the actor’s magnetic screen presence.
Thankfully, stellar performances from the central cast—spanning three generations of Deetz’s—and a charming cameo by Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson rescue the “comedy” of this ill-conceived script.
