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It’s a rarity to see a sequel live up to the original. Within Hollywood, “Jaws: The Revenge” and “Grease 2” haunt franchises and filmmakers who dream of a second installment. Once in a blue moon, however, a sequel not only lives up to the original material but successfully adds to the allure of the initial film. Through stellar casting and a throwback soundtrack, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” effectively continues the kooky cult classic and avoids the dreaded “sequel curse.”

Tim Burton is known for his spooky brand, and 1988’s “Beetlejuice” was no different. Complete with striped sandworms, red tulle dresses, and rudimentary prosthetics, it was another notch in Burton’s belt of stellar films. After 36 years, it seemed like Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice wouldn’t be revisited, but Burton had other plans.

Seeing his own life through Winona Ryder’s protagonist character Lydia Deets and wanting to develop a Beetlejuice for the next generation, Burton finally moved this passion project forward. After decades of leaving it on the back burner, his unique angle led to a deeply personal movie that constantly references and plays off the original.

Almost every cast member came back, the most notable being Ryder as Lydia, Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deets, and, of course, Keaton as Beetlejuice. A few more star-studded names were added to the list, such as Monica Bellucci, who plays Beetlejuice’s corpse bride.

Her introductory scene is arguably the best in the whole film. “Tragedy” by the Bee Gees blares in the background as Bellucci staples her dismembered body back together, hell-bent on revenge for her murder. Although she doesn’t speak much, the visual effectiveness of the character covers all the bases.

Jenna Ortega, who plays Astrid Deets, was an outstanding casting choice due to her spine-chilling aura and physical resemblance to Ryder. Keaton knocks the portrayal of the movie’s namesake out of the park, expectedly. His grimy Beetlejuice is equal parts entertaining and hilarious, supercharging the movie with iconic deliveries of one-liners and sleazy jokes.

Not only is the casting impeccable, but the storytelling offers a compelling continuation of the original. Rather than retelling the 1988 script, Burton adds to the character arcs, paralleling aspects from the first film. Lydia, once a moody teen who treated her mother figure poorly, is now on the other side of the situation when her daughter, Astrid, doesn’t want anything to do with her.

“Banana Boat (Day-O)” is sung by a children’s choir, a direct callback to the monumental dinner party scene in the first film. This sequel complements — not copies — and truly captures the ambiance of the original.

Opening weekend raked in over $110 million , solidifying “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” as the second-highest-grossing September debut in history. It seems as though “The Juice is Loose!”, and there’s no stopping everyone’s favorite bio-exorcist!

YES

After 36 years of waiting, one would think that Tim Burton had plenty of time to craft a cohesive, well-planned story to live up to the beloved Halloween classic “Beetlejuice.” Unfortunately, even after three decades, the long-awaited sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” fell short in almost every aspect.

The movie begins decently, with an introduction to Lydia Deetz, the deuteragonist of the first film. Winona Ryder reprises her role, though the change in Lydia is a jarring one from where the character was left off in the first film, raising the first of many red flags throughout this movie.

Lydia, who audiences last saw happy and enjoying life with Adam and Barbara Maitland, is now a tortured talk show host struggling with her ghost-seeing abilities, as well as constant hauntings of Beetlejuice, reprised by Michael Keaton.

While this would be a fine character point, it is the first example of one of the biggest issues: the complete lack of explanation for crucial character development. We get little to no information on what pushed Lydia to become a celebrity, and that’s not the only issue.

The absence of Adam and Barbara Maitland, played in the first film by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, respectively, is glaringly obvious to anyone who has seen the original 1988 film. Despite being the main characters of the first film and, eventually, Lydia’s surrogate parents, the best explanation for their absence is that a “loophole” was found, allowing them to pass on into the afterlife.

There is no explanation for what the loophole was or when and how it happened. The entire matter is brushed off in one conversation between Lydia and her estranged daughter, Astrid.

Moving away from the Deetz family, Beetlejuice also suffers a cheap explanation for an arc that had me wondering who allowed this to make it to the final cut. We meet Beetlejuice’s former wife, Delores, who is now hunting him in the afterlife. We then see a rushed background on the pair told completely in Italian, opening the gates for scene after scene of Delores doing nothing but walking around the afterlife and failing in her search for Beetlejuice.

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I held out hope for the entire movie, wondering if this would amount to anything impressive, but all I got in return was a bad attempt at a gag joke and a lazy call-back to Beetlejuice’s defeat in the first movie.

Along with the poor exposition, useless scenes, and jokes that didn’t land, the number of storylines stuffed into this movie is concerning. With a runtime of only one hour and 44 minutes, the audience must stay focused on the plots of the estranged relationship between Delia and Astrid, Astrid’s romantic subplot with a mysterious boy in Winter River, Delia’s grief, Lydia’s impromptu wedding to her manipulative manager, and so much more.

To top it all off, the ending of this movie defeats the purpose of everything set up in the beginning. We see from the start that Lydia is still haunted by the memory of Beetlejuice, and a massive plot point for her in the film is facing Beetlejuice once more and moving on.

By the end of the film, we think everything has been resolved, only to reach an ending scene that shows us Lydia is still traumatized, and virtually nothing has been resolved. I would not be surprised if the poor ending is a setup for an unnecessary third movie.

There is no denying the commercial success of this film, but in terms of the quality and a proper continuation of the “Beetlejuice” story, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” simply does not live up to expectations.