Creepy sequel mixes frightful fun with language, pills.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
some
It's visually clear how those in the Afterlife died, with their deaths portrayed in ways that are meant to be seen as comically gruesome. The remains of a person who's missing their head and shoulders somehow talks, with blood spurting everywhere. Individuals have severed limbs, faces, and bodies (one staples herself back together). There are functioning skeletons, exposed brains, characters with green skin and glowing eyes, shrunken-headed office workers, weapons impaled and embedded in bodies. Worms pour out of a demon's body. One untimely death is depicted in a claymation scene. A giant sandworm with two mouths chases humans. People bite the heads off of birds. Slapstick, fantasy peril. Dead bodies are stacked up. Slime oozes out of mouths, sometimes in a vomiting style. Cartoonish punch. A creepy fake baby attacks and draws blood. A gun is shown/drawn, but not used. A villain sucks the life out of the dead, leaving them deflated like balloons. Astrid and Lydia are still affected by the loss of Richard, and there are conversations about feelings of grief when losing a spouse.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
Honeymoon sex is demonstrated with an intentionally silly display of overly passionate kissing, shadows and legs moving around a bed, and pillows being tossed. Teens kiss. Brief references to sex between a long-married couple. Plot involves a few weddings. Beetlejuice leers at a woman.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
Language includes "a--hole," "a--wipe," "bulls--t," "crap," "goddamn," "horny," "pissed," "s--t," "what the hell," "Jesus!" (as exclamation), "what the f--k" (with the "F" word covered by a loud beep), and one use of "f--ker."
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
It's indicated that Lydia has a dependency on prescription pills (part of the way she copes with seeing so many dead people); she and her boyfriend, who takes pills recreationally, are both shown swallowing tablets without consequences.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.
Make memories with the people you love now, rather than be haunted by them later. Dealing with codependency and learning to stand up for yourself are also themes.
Diverse Representations
some
Astrid (Mexican Puerto Rican actor Jenna Ortega) and her father, Richard (Chilean actor Santiago Cabrera) are Latino; other primary characters are White (and wealthy). In the Afterlife, a "soul train" features a Black conductor and Black dancers. Focuses on the relationship between three generations of women in a blended family.
Lydia; her stepmother, Delia; and her daughter, Astrid, don't initially have a strong relationship, but as they encounter death and danger, they realize how much they all value one another. Lydia doesn't think twice about putting Astrid's needs before her own. But as likable as some of them may be, all characters are pretty self-concerned, and Beetlejuice himself is rude and crude.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is director Tim Burton's sequel to his hit 1988 film, with Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara reprising their roles as Beetlejuice, Lydia, and Delia, and with Wednesday's Jenna Ortega joining the cast as Lydia's daughter, Astrid. Many of the original beats and creepy characters are resurrected, in a slightly tamer way. Those with an appetite for gross-out guffaws will enjoy the details of how the recently deceased characters died, like a woman who staples her severed body back together, or a magician's assistant who has a knife through her head. There are functioning skeletons, exposed brains, characters with green skin and glowing eyes, and shrunken-headed office workers. Worms pour out of a demon's body, and people bite the heads off of birds. Dead bodies are stacked up, slime oozes out of mouths, a creepy fake baby attacks and draws blood, a gun is shown/drawn (but not used), and a villain sucks the life out of the dead, leaving them deflated like balloons. It's all comically gruesome, but likely not truly scary for teens and up—even the sandworm is less alarming this time. Beetlejuice has chilled with age, too: He does leer at a woman one time, but he's far less pervy overall. There's a flashback to a couple having sex on their wedding night that involves passionate kissing, pillows being tossed, and shadows of bodies rolling around in an over-the-top way. Lydia and her boyfriend take pills, and language includes "a--wipe," "s--t," "Jesus" (as an exclamation), and one "f--k." There's some talk of loss and grief. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
I saw this at the drive in and my mom hated the first one but she loved this one better and i have to agree this one was a banger it has better story and beetle juice is awesome in this and it’s more funny then the original and i love bob. But the violence isnt bad the most violent thing is animated or cgi when the grandpa gets eaten by a shark there’s a scene where beetle juice and his ex are in a bed together might need to skip that but other then that its fine.
For the most part this is fun. I enjoyed revisiting those that I felt I grew up with. Keaton has still got it and Ortega brings it in spades. Conti also brings a lot to his role. But there is a feeling of wanting to spend a little bit more time with the characters and their worlds and how they go there. I had a lot of questions that tI wanted to have answered, but the film was insistent on telling me its story to the pace that it was going to tell me. Considering how long we all waited for this story...did it live up to expectations? I don't know...but I am happy that I got to see it realized and got to sit in a theatre with others to share the communal experience.
What's the Story?
In BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, a family tragedy brings Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) back to Winter River, along with her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), and Lydia's boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux). When Astrid opens a portal to the Afterlife, putting her mortal soul in danger, Lydia knows one ghoul—and three words—that may help.
Ghoulishly goofy but light on frights, this sequel is great for Beetlejuice fans, who will thoroughly enjoy seeing Lydia Deetz' life on the other side, as an adult. The shoe is on the other foot now that Lydia is the mother of a moody teen—a point that Lydia's stepmother, Delia, enjoys making. Speaking of Delia, it's refreshing to see that, three decades later, while Delia is still Delia, her relationship with Lydia has become friendly. Even the characters' relationship with Beetlejuice is softer, with the vulgar ghoul serving as more of an ally than an adversary.
Director Tim Burton finds new ways to revive the beloved beats of his 1988 horror-comedy classic, including unexpected musical interludes and the divinely devilish dead. More time is spent in the visually stimulating Afterlife, and viewers get to see new areas, including the Juice's office space, where he manages a staff of oddly sweet shrunken-headed corporate minions. Audiences can turn guessing/recognizing how everyone in the Afterlife met their untimely end into a hilarious game (while it's all delightfully detailed, it's no scarier than a Halloween lawn decoration). Some characters are underdeveloped (Betelguese's late wife needs a spin-off) or pass into the world of the "dead dead" too fast (Danny DeVito, we didn't even get to know you!), but there's so much happening that you may not notice or care. The only disappointment might be that Lydia has lost her spunk; she feels a bit like a supporting character in her own story. While the joy of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the ridiculous unrealism of the movie's fantasy world, the sad situation of a strong woman who has devolved into a meek pushover due to the trauma of life feels all too real.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what, if anything, they found scary in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. How does director Tim Burton walk the line between creating something that's grotesque and eerie but not exactly truly frightening?
Burton's sight gags let viewers spot the dead souls and size up what led to their early death. What other movies or TV shows have you seen that have comedy going on in the background of the main action? Do you like this type of humor?
Do you think Lydia grew into adulthood and motherhood in a realistic way? If not, what would you see as her future? Pick a favorite teenage character of yours and imagine who they might become 35 years later.
What do you think viewers are meant to take away from Lydia's use of prescription pills and Rory's role in it? Is self-medicating normalized or glamorized in the movie?
The original Beetlejuice was released in 1988. If you've seen it, do you think it has aged well? Why, or why not? How does the sequel stay true to the original while updating it for modern audiences?
MPAA explanation:
violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use
Last updated:
September 9, 2024
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Tara McNamara
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
