Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Story

Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is all grown up now. She’s the mother of a teenage daughter named Astrid (Jenny Ortega) who doesn’t believe in ghosts and who thinks Lydia is a fraud. Astrid is resentful and angry that her mother uses her ability to talk to ghosts to help random strangers on her TV show but won’t even try to contact Astrid’s deceased father Richard (Santiago Cabrera).

When Lydia’s estranged stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) calls to tell her that her father is dead, Lydia heads back to the childhood home where it all began to pack up his things and say goodbye. She’s accompanied by the reluctant Astrid and by her manager and wannabe fiancée Rory (Justin Theroux). While at home and dealing with her grief, Lydia begins to see the creepy demon Beetlejuice (Michael Keeton) in random places but does her best to ignore him.

When Astrid is tricked into the underworld, Lydia asks Beetlejuice to help her save her daughter. Meanwhile, Beetlejuice is dealing with Dolores (Monica Bellucci), his vengeful ex-wife who, in her efforts to find him, is sucking the souls of the dead and leaving crumpled corpses all over the underworld.

Will a chance encounter with Richard, a clever daughter who doesn’t believe in ghosts even though she can see them, and a little bit of long-lost confidence be all Lydia needs to finally find herself free from Beetlejuice once and for all?

Themes

The afterlife; death of a parent; trauma; grief: loss; murder; betrayal

Violence

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has some violence. For example:

The engine on a plane explodes and the plane plummets into the water. Some survivors cling onto debris in the water. One man’s head and part of his chest are eaten by a shark. Blood spurts everywhere.
A man falls down a manhole and disappears. He is soon shown in a subterranean catacomb, surrounded by dead people, with a grotesque and protruding bump on his head.
Dolores writes a message on a wall to Beetlejuice using the ‘fluids’ of a man she killed.
Dolores sucks the life out of numerous individuals, leaving their shrivelled bodies behind.
Beetlejuice robs a mass grave filled with people killed by the plague.
Beetlejuice and Dolores bite the heads off chickens during their wedding vows.
Beetlejuice learns that Dolores is the leader of a soul sucking death cult and that she’s poisoned him on their wedding night.
Beetlejuice attacks Dolores with an axe, chopping her straight through the face and severing her body into numerous pieces.
While riding her bike, Astrid is nearly hit by a car. She crashes through a fence, rolls down an incline and smashes into a tree.
The Grim Reaper image can be seen slashing someone.
Astrid mentions that her father was killed in a boating accident. She describes how they searched the Amazon for a week but never found his body.
A story is told of how a young man killed his parents and then fell out a treehouse and died.
A murdered character is shown with a saw through his skull.
Another murder victim is shown with an egg whisk protruding from her eye socket.
A dead and badly burned Santa is shown, as is a surfer with half a body.
Delia is killed by a snake bite when one of her supposedly de-fanged asps strikes her in the neck and ends her life.
A character says that she will ‘Spray paint the world with your brains.’
A gunshot victim is repeatedly shown, as is a woman with a spear through her body.
One character threatens another, saying, ‘I will crack your itty, bitty, skull like a goddamned walnut.’
Rory is punched in the face.
Armed forces from the underworld burst through church windows and blast through a giant wedding cake.
A sandworm bursts through a church floor and attacks and eats Rory.
Cockroaches crawl all over Beetlejuice as he swells up and then explodes.
Lydia dreams that Astrid delivers a baby Beetlejuice, who then attacks and kills the doctors while flies buzz around him and blood spurts everywhere.

Sexual references

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has some sexual references. For example:

A comment is made about mating rituals and a character who flew halfway around the world to ‘watch birds do it on a beach.’
A character says, ‘I have lost my horny handyman.’
A male character calls out to a female character, ‘Hey toots!’
Beetlejuice mentions that up until a certain point, no creature could have ever kept him ‘satisfied’.
Beetlejuice describes his desires as he and Dolores roll around in bed.
A comment is made about looking for a ‘love connection’.
In a creepy gesture, Dolores licks a photo of Beetlejuice and then smashes a frame containing a picture of Lydia.
Beetlejuice leers at Lydia’s mum.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has some substance use. For example:

Lydia takes medicine and Rory tries to stop her. He then takes medicine too.
Beetlejuice is poisoned after drinking something from a goblet.
Characters drink alcohol at a wake.
Beetlejuice stabs Rory in the neck with a syringe containing some sort of truth serum.

Nudity and sexual activity

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

An art piece of a naked woman is briefly displayed.
Beetlejuice and Dolores kiss passionately as they grab at each other in their room.
Lydia and Rory kiss passionately.
Astrid kisses a young man.

Product placement

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has some product placement. For example, Richard Marx’s song, ‘Right here waiting for you’, is showcased and performed by Beetlejuice.

Coarse language

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a horror/comedy sequel to Tim Burton’s original movie, Beetlejuice. The movie contains countless special effects, solid performances and lots of minor storylines seamlessly woven into the main plot. Due to the demonic gore, themes and coarse language, this is not a family movie; it’s best suited to audiences aged over 15.

These are the main messages from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice:

People have different realities and experience life differently.
Families are tricky and messy, but the love of a parent for their child is so powerful that not even death can destroy it.

Values in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that you could reinforce with your children are honesty, compassion, determination, courage and forgiveness.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice could also give you the chance to talk with your children about issues like these:

The importance of being honest and keeping the lines of communication open, especially after traumatic events.
The harm that silence and misunderstanding can do to relationships.
Different interpretations of the afterlife.