“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is finally here.
The sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 classic, once again directed by Burton, brings back a number of your favorite characters from the original, including Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), her stepmother Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara) and, of course, the ghost with the most himself Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). Of course, there are a few exceptions. Notably, Jeffrey Jones doesn’t return, with his character Charles Deetz killed off during a stop-motion animation sequence. (This has as much to do with narrative drive as it does with Jones’ off-camera status as a real-life sex offender.)
But perhaps the most jarring exclusion in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin’s Barbara and Adam Maitland. Not only were they the main characters in the first film, but the sequel makes it a point to return to the Maitland’s house in Winter River, Connecticut, including to the model town that Adam obsessed over in the first film.
So let’s get into how, exactly, the movie explains (and how much was described in interviews). But spoilers beware.
How does “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” explain the characters’ absence?
When they return to the Winter River house, Lydia’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) asks her mom what happened to the Maitlands. Shouldn’t they still be tied to the house? Lydia said that they found a “loophole” and “moved on.”
That’s it?
That’s it.
Is the loophole ever described?
Nope. They just aren’t there.
What has been said about their absence outside of the film?
Last month, Burton told People, “I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes. So even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else.” Earlier this year, Geena Davis explained to Entertainment Tonight, “I’m not in the remake. Oh, you were expecting that I would be? Yeah, no, you know what? Because my theory is that ghosts don’t age … Not that I have!”
But isn’t Keaton a ghost and he aged, right?
He did. But he is covered in traditional ghoulish make-up. Maybe they were worried about how Baldwin and Davis would look without make-up? Or maybe they didn’t want to use fancy de-aging digital technology?
Oh.
Yeah, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense from a narrative perspective, but as the film’s writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar explained to us, the focus of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was on the three generations of Deetz women, more so than the crazy ghost shenanigans (although there are still plenty of those).
Maybe they could come back for the third one!
Now we’re cooking with gas!
“Beetlejuice Beetljuice” is in theaters now.
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