Board 8 > Beetlejuice 2 was ... Good?

(+) Yeah! (+)

For context I hadn't seen the original in probably 20 years until last night. My wife and I watched it to have it fresh in our minds for the sequel tonight.

Going into the original I had forgotten how slapstick and frankly pervy it was at times. I'd also forgotten how little Keaton's screen actually was and how much focused on ghosts I really didn't care that much about. After the rewatch I decided that I liked it less than I remembered and thought it was probably good for 1988, but doesn't hold up to more modern standards.

But the sequel? I thought it was actually pretty solid and improved upon the original in just about every way. The main characters had threats and stakes beyond 'there are humans in our house and we're not happy about it'. It was still very exaggerated and absurd in many of the same ways, but it wasn't as unnecessarily pervy at the same time. Perhaps it was just because I lowered my expectations, but I couldn't help but walk away surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

If we weren't paying for a monthly subscription to see unlimited movies in theaters we probably would have skipped it. Even knowing that I enjoyed it I'm not sure it would be worth paying full price for, but most movies aren't. But a matinee on a discounted day of the week? Absolutely.

Curious if anyone else has plans to see it and whether or not my opinion is shared.

This is good to know. I'm planning on seeing it tomorrow night. I have similar feelings on the original. I saw the musical on Broadway and it was honestly infinitely better.

The original holds up.

I think the team did a better job with the cartoon.

https://www.cracked.com/article_43477_an-oral-history-of-the-beetlejuice-cartoon-how-tim-burtons-ghost-with-the-most-made-it-to-the-small-screen.html

I vaguely remember the saturday morning cartoon from watching the occasional episode, but not much more than that. Does it hold up?

Yeah I remember the cartoon being pretty entertaining as a kid

wasn't planning on seeing the sequel but good word of mouth like this might get me to check it out

I watched the original for the first time earlier this year for the 80s horror topic and didn't like it, but I've still been curious to check this one out when it's on streaming. Good to hear that it might be worth it.

I rewatched the original a few years back and thought it was pretty average. Will probably watch this if it ever shows up on tv though.

I still need to rewatch the original because it's probably been 30 years since I've seen it

I do remember enjoying the cartoon too

I remembered liking the movie and when back to rewatch it after seeing the musical

Movie doesn't hold up as much, musical is a 10/10

Beetlejuice 2 has some plot issues but is very fun

Johnbobb posted...

Beetlejuice 2 has some plot issues but is very fun

That sounds about right. No egregious problems and nothing that can't be overlooked in service of delivering a fun time.

I also really liked how they handled the grandfather's character rather than allow that actor in the movie.

I recall watching a bit of the cartoon, but my Mom wasn't too keen on us watching it (probably because she thought it would contain the language and sexual content of the film) so I didn't get to watch it all that often.

Made 41M opening day.

I'm actually pretty surprised, I wasn't really sure who the movie was meant to appeal to after so many decades have passed since the original.

Just got back from seeing it. Thought it was a lot of fun. Definitely better than the original (at least for how it holds up today). I was invested and laughing the whole time. They did a little bit of building and expanding upon the established world and the whole absurdist humor and disturbing imagery felt like they belonged because they were present throughout, rather than in the original they just popped up from time to time and felt like they were spliced into some random dramedy. Also, I loved Bob. I'm not really sure why I loved him so much but at the same time it seems like they were expecting him to be the breakout character of the film so, mission accomplished? My one complaint here is that the MacArthur Park scene went on way too long. I get that the fact that it dragged was probably an intended part of the joke but it still dragged.

That part felt like an homage to one of the parts of the original that worked well. I didn't mind the length of it, I was well into just enjoying the absurdity at that point.

RIP Bob

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Made 41M opening day.

I'm actually pretty surprised, I wasn't really sure who the movie was meant to appeal to after so many decades have passed since the original.

145.4M for the whole weekend.

Just saw this and was very pleasantly surprised! I had a blast and I thought it was very funny. It builds off a lot of the lore from the original and does a lot of cool stuff with it. With as many moving parts as this movie had, I thought it was going to become a mess, but the script was really strong and every plot felt satisfying.

Glad everyone seems to agree!

Also always remember what Doschoevsky said.

I liked this more than the original actually, even though there's some pretty glaring pacing issues and the resolution to the main villain is like... nothing? But yeah it was fun.