Tim Burton directed the first mega-hit of the 2010s, a live action remake of Alice in Wonderland. I remember walking in the parking lot of my high school, reading about the enormous amount of money this piece of shit made in the first months of 2010. Avatar had already reared its ugly head, mandating that theaters throw away their 35mm projectors and replace them with DCP compliant machines, but at least that movie was something—“very bad” according to my friend Jack, who saw it on opening night and texted me as much; no matter your opinion on Avatar, it was new. Some became morbidly depressed afterwards, wishing in vain that they too could live with the Na’vi on James Cameron’s Pandora.
Plenty of people saw 2010’s Alice in Wonderland. Does anyone remember anything from it?
Before he spent a decade cranking out more live action remakes for Disney, Burton made a lot of bad movies in the 2000s: Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd. That might be an impressive run to some but they all bored me back then. What’s the last good movie he’s released in my lifetime? Mars Attacks? Probably—and even that was a steep slide from the fantastic and criminally underrated Ed Wood.
But in the beginning—near the beginning—was Beetlejuice.
I never saw the 1988 film until a couple of months ago—but the cartoon is burned into my brain. That show focused almost exclusively on the character of Beetlejuice, departing just as much from the source material as the RoboCop cartoon. And I never liked Beetlejuice: disgusting, annoying, ugly. What’s to like? Then I discover that the movie is a kaleidoscopic black comedy with a killer cast and very little Beetlejuice. Does anyone remember that Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are the ostensible stars of the original film? I certainly didn’t learn that through osmosis all these years…
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, starring Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Jenna Ortega, and more, is finally out after countless false starts and tossed scripts. This a proper sequel, long overdue 36 years after the original; by returning to something relatively simple, as Burton said, “something with actors and sets and puppets,” he’s made his only good film of the century so far, and certainly his best since… Mars Attacks? The only drag is that, because this is a modern digital production, it really looks like shit. Especially compared to the first Beetlejuice, where everything is bathed in super-saturated light and painted and practical. Most of the sets and effects in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice are practical or acceptable CGI, but the sets aren’t lit properly—everything’s too dark, just like all other contemporary American movies shot digitally.
Because the movie is so well designed and full of great actors, Burton gets by, and even with a lopsided script with too many side characters, it doesn’t feel rushed or indulgent or fatty. But as good as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is, the first one just looks better; this movie might be the greatest case for a return to film production and exhibition.
—Follow Nicky Otis Smith on Twitter and Instagram: @nickyotissmith