Yesterday I took advantage of discounted theater prices and saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
I won’t beat around the bush. I didn’t care for it.
I have to admit, part of my wanting to see it was a sense of nostalgia from seeing the 1988 film, which I loved for its quirkiness and maybe most of all, the dinner scene.
I was hoping to bring back some of that nostalgia with the 2024 release. I did not.
Okay, so the plot is decent. Lydia Deetz, now a mom herself, has to rescue her daughter. No spoilers there. That’s a common theme.
It just gets weirder after that.
At one point, I contemplated just leaving. I have never in my life left in the middle of the movie. I may have left in the middle of a theatrical performance before (and wanted to many more times). I wanted to give the movie the chance for redemption.
I will admit that there were two scenes with some redeeming value. No spoilers. I’ll just say this: choir and train.
Being a man of a certain age, I usually don’t get snax during the movie. This time I got a small popcorn and a lemondade. Lemonade because some years ago Regal switched from Coke to Pepsi products. I still haven’t forgiven them.
That said, when nature called…well, not actually a call since I had dropped my phone under the seat and had to wait until after the show to retrieve it. But, when I needed to go out, I didn’t even feel like I had to wait for the Aragorn/Arwen kissy scenes to go.
If you know, you know.
As for the actors, I was happy to see Michael Keaton back in the role. Sure, he’s 73, and sure the character is several hundred years old, but it’s nice to see a 73-year-old carry off such a challenging role. As for Winona Ryder, I haven’t seen her since the last season of Stranger Things. I think somebody needs to give her a sammich.
If you were a fan of the 1988 film, I won’t tell you not to see it. See it for the nostalgia.
That’s what I did, but I still found it disappointing.
I wrote on Monday that I’m still sorting out this retirement thing. I suspect I’ll be seeing a lot more movies in the future.
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