Ajay and Nathan Discuss Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) & Beetlejuice (1988)

hey everyone welcome to AJ Nathan discuss movies a show in which we discuss movies both old and new uh today we're here joined with Nathan as always hi and we are here to discuss a new film a film in which it is a playoff of an old film yeah but it's still original offering something new and fresh which is very lacking in today's movie Market they not like us they not like us they not like yeah and Nathan without no further Ado what movie was that beatle juice Beetle Juice baby yes Beetlejuice Beetle juu directed by Tim Burton it is the second film of the Beetlejuice franchise yes 36 years after the initial film yeah 36 really dang okay and Nathan overall how did he feel about this movie I hm I'm of two minds on this movie in one mind I think he oh no no no no no before we get our thoughts into oh my God we have to we have to describe what the movie is about tell people what Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is about so what's the movie about Nathan oh my God getting way ahead of myself so Beetlejuice Beetlejuice picks up years later after the first Beetlejuice film uh uh Winona r R's character has moved on she has uh gotten uh married or she's she has a boyfriend that she's dating she has a daughter played by Jenna Ortega and due to dramatic circumstances must return back to her own home her haunted home because she is receiving visions of Beetlejuice once again and Beetlejuice is in the ghost realm and he's got dealings of his own he's being hunted by a long lost lover and drama and Fantastical circumstances bring these two get characters together once again and how did he feel about this movie Nathan I conflicted uh on the one hand I do think it is for a sequel that is like years after the original I think it's actually kind of well done and a very fun movie a very nice continuation and without having to rely on like previous like established stuff from the first movie it can survive on own but at the second time I also feel it's a little narratively messy I think there's long stretches of the movie where not a lot of is happening I think it takes a while to kind of like pick up steam and like get a good flow going but I think once it does it's a very good time it is Tim Burton I think kind of like settling back into himself settling back into his strengths as a director uh he's brought back a lot of his old tricks a lot of his old kind of like visual looks the movie is not a big CGI mess he has gone back to like stop motion and puppets which brings us back to like that nice cushy feel of like old Tim Burton and his uh original Beetle Juice So I think especially for if you are a fan of the original I think it is a worthwhile successor yeah I enjoy this movie and along the same lines I also did have some issues with this film uh as you mention there are issues in terms of there are times in this movie where not that much is happening yeah I feel as if the introduction of Jenna Ortega's love interest kind of made the movie into like a screeching halt yeah yeah little bit so that was an issue I do agree with you the pacing was a bit off there were times where I was my phone being like we're only like 30 45 minutes minutes into the movie uh so yeah obviously the pacing is an issue uh the third act especially uh we'll we'll get into spoilers later later on in the episode but the third Act is when it was at its most nonsensical I'd say where it just turned wacky and zany without any sort of like it felt very much like all these characters just coming together in this one final battle it was very much like in the same realm as Spider-Man 3 where obviously there there not there I mean there are not that many Sim similarities between this movie and Spiderman 3 no but in terms of just like all the characters just coming together and this one final scene it felt very off very felt very rushed and it was kind of poorly thought out like we have all these plot lines that we all need to like get into one place and kind of like we we got to wrap things up a little bit Yeah gets that way a little bit especially in the third Act but I think for me at least it did enough to distract me like it was so zany and ridiculous especi especially the longer it went on that I was like a lot is not coming together like perfectly right now but also it's so goofy and Visually entertaining that I think I can forgive it a little bit Yeah and again we enjoy the film and yeah it's very enjoyable things that I enjoyed about it was the cast I felt you know wona Rider reprising her role was great uh Michael Keon AB absolutely still to show Monica beluchi I really love the scene in which she turns into like the I would say villain per se oh yeah she kind of puts herself back together yeah she kind of looks like I don't know if you guys are familiar with magic the Gathering but kind of Liliana the veil oh kind of similar to that but like the transformation scene was great I thought Monica kuchi did really well she's not really given that much within this movie after that no not really she's just kind of like I don't know sucks the soul out of people through their like uh breath which is a little interesting uh but uh yeah overall Monica she did really well jenet jenet Ortega I'm not the biggest fan of her per say I think she's kind of one note especially in this movie the second she shows up and she's just ooh I'm a moody teenager it's like is isn't this just the Wednesday show is she just being Wednesday I think one of the writers or EPS of this movie was a riter SL of Wednesday so that that would explain the connection and Tim Burton himself also I think directed a lot of episodes of Wednesday as well yeah so so Jenna Ortega I thought wasn't wasn't necessarily the best character it felt very moody um Justin th Justin thorough I think he was pretty good the character the writing of the character maybe not so much yeah but I think he he Services the plot well and he understands that while he's playing a quite serious character it shouldn't necessarily be taken that seriously and I felt like he did a good job in terms of playing the darker aspects of the character but also the moodier lighter aspects of that character yeah know he very much is playing up like he's like he's Winona Rider's like boyfriend in the film and and he's kind of just like this weird like yepy who's just he he like kind of like in the beginning of the film like takes away she's taking like painkillers or something and dumps them in the trash he's like no wait but I need them for the show and he's like okay I'll dig them out of the trash for you but this is the last time just like he played up like the yuess he's kind of just like an idiot but he he really sold it he was chewing up all that scenery I also want want to mention uh Katherine O'Hara yeah Catherine I think similar similar issue with Monica beluchi where she's just kind of thrown in there per se especially at the end i' say she has more to do yeah or at least like I think like the First Act is a lot of kind of like waiting around for the fun stuff to happen and she's just given just like a bunch of gags and just like fun stuff to work with and she's really I think adds a lot of energy to the First Act where without her it'd kind of be a slog to get through MH the actor that looked like Dan de Han also did pretty well Arthur Ki the love interest ASD oh yeah that that the individual that gives a crime and punishment to astd oh my God oh God that was hilarious whoa you read crime and punishment that was F but overall I enjoyed the movie yeah it is a lot of fun it's especially is a lot of fun to watch during the Halloween season came out of at a very good time did it hm did it did it come out at a good time yeah I know I kind of think it was kind of misplaced really I think it should have been released at the beginning of October because this I don't know I don't necessarily think September is the beginning of Halloween season it's the beginning of The Fall season I don't know about Halloween season it's I'm I'm only to give it some leeway I don't know I don't know I'm just saying if I was like a marketer for the film I would have released it a little bit in in October no I mean there's had that four-week window just you know have it in theaters and then by November 1st on streaming H I guess that's fair maybe I don't know maybe I'm not a businessman I no he's not uh but overall it was a fun film I enjoyed it um yeah I mean I think in a lot of ways I I think what Tim Burton does really well that I think not many other directors are able to understand or be aware is that like he's able to mix like the darker elements with like the more silly cartoony elements of it all and there's like this Mo uh scene in which they depict a person dying Jeffrey Jones's character dying right oh yeah because you can't have Jeffrey Jones you can't have him in the movie no nowhere near this kid's movie Drake I hear you like I'm young you better go to sell black one to any [ __ ] that talk to him and they love make sure you your sister but the way that he was able to handle like a death yeah through animation I thought was really good that that was just the entire handling of that character because you can't have that actor on set anymore but like the handling of that is very funny like he shows up in a flashback but it's clation which I made me so happy because I love clation and how Tim Burton does that and then as he shows up in the rest of the movie like he's been eaten in half by like a shark and so it's just like kind of like the the midsection up is just gone and so it's just like a little like piece of meat that's just flapping and kind of gargling like show me where I am and that that's just a funny workaround for that yeah I like that scene a lot of the animation it reminded me a lot of uh Annie Hall where in the middle of the movie it just turns into animation which I thought was really nice when my mother took me to see Snow White everyone fell in love with Snow White I immediately fell for the wicked Queen we never have any fun anymore how can you say that why not you're always leaning on me to improve myself you're just upset you must be getting your period I like it when they blur the lines of like okay we're going to play this movie straight and then we'll offer this sort of clation SE yeah these very like big stylistic leaps that that Tim Burton has always kind of that's kind of been his bread and butter yeah like being able to make like a highly budgeted Hollywood film but still be unique and creative enough to like go outside the box I think that's very commendable absolutely so yeah I really enjoy that sequence I think we can get into spoilers now we're yeah so obviously uh skip to this time below because we will be uh discussing some spoilers uh so where where did you see the twist happen the the TW oh uh almost the second we meet that kid yeah like like he just drops like a little line like At first before we get into twist what is the twist twist is that I guess I guess it's a Twist like jota's love interest is apparently a ghost He murdered his parents and is trying to use her to swap places so she's stuck in the afterlife and he can come back to the land of the living basically and I kind of picked it up like he says this line where he's like oh you can come back here tomorrow I'm always in this treehouse and I'm like is this kid a ghost and then he brings her through a tour of his house like you don't see his parents face just like yeah Mom's always in the kitchen and dad never leaves the couch I'm like his parents are dead and he's a ghost and then he's he has the handbook for the Recently decease I'm like okay yeah no he's a ghost I picked up and then when the reveal happens but I think once the reveal happens even though I could kind of see it coming that's when I think the movie really kicked into gear cuz now it's like oh we're going to the ghost realm him and Jenner Orga and then Winona Ryder needs to team up up with Beetlejuice to go get her kid and that's when the movie really lets kind of loose and just has a bunch of fun gags we spend a lot of time in the Ghost World just like with these fun characters a lot of just fun additions Willam Defoe I think we never mentioned him but he amazing in this like he's amazing in anything but his character like he's an undead cop except in the real world he was just an actor who played a cop and so when he died he just keeps rolling with it he has an assistant that like holds up Q cards and every time she shows up she has a cup of coffee for him constantly just like fun little additions like that when he has that face reveal where he kind of shows that he's too fac oh my hair is s like sticking up so I can only imagine how frightening how frighten the kids in the theater were when I saw that uh so yeah overall well defo did really well uh I again we mentioned that we had issues with the film with think ition the third of the FM where if you guys obvious spoil alert you've beened but there's this big final wedding that happens yeah which is kind of that's kind of also how the previous Beetlejuice movie ends is in the third act oh there's this elaborate kind of wedding and in the wedding wiona writer's character is getting married to Justin thorough and a lot of wacky zany things happen which is very yeah very expected for be Beetle Juice movie but there are moments where I wouldn't say it took me out of it but there are moments where I was like just like okay this is kind of lazy this is kind of like there was like uh like I felt like there was like a fourth wall break in the third act where like Beetle Juice like just looks into the camera and just says something there's there's plenty of fourth wall breaks I think in this movie also I think a little bit in the original fil I mean there was obviously with why not Rider just looking dead in the camera saying this will be my last thing this will be the last film or not my last film but like but this is this will be it for me I I kind of felt like that was like a fourth wall break oh you didn't see that part no I think I know what you're referring to that's like near the end of the movie cuz it's established she has like her like uh Haunted House show her like ghost hunting show where she's like a like an elvir kind of figure I think that's more her like addressing like that audience but also in a way but it was a subtle GW to being like I'm no longer going to be a part of the Beetle Juice films is that really what it or be a part of the project in the future if there any I don't believe that I mean any money is enough to bring anyone back yeah that makes sense will there be a be juice 3 well if time frame goes along I'll be about 100 so maybe I doubt it but there was a moment in the wedding back to the wedding where there was like a swear word that was omitted that was like bleep out oh yeah they bleep out which was pretty funny I'm not going to lie that that was funny but it's also I guess uh cuz it's PG-13 they used their one or we 10 minutes in yeah we used they used their one [ __ ] earlier so they couldn't say [ __ ] again cuz they had already said [ __ ] I I was like is this purposeful is like is uh is is Tim Burton on the like the Andy coffin levels of just like let let me just break down everything and deconstruct is he is is Timber the new Tom Green I wouldn't go that far you hear that Dad you're going to pay he's a molester he's a child molester you better run you're liar I think more of my issues lie with one one more issue one is one more issue at the end of the film uh there was a Dream Within A Dream sequence oh my God which I was just like are we really going there like are we really going to end the film like this that was so I was getting such like weird cuz like it just kind of kept going I'm like what is happening right now Orga character goes into labor and it's a baby littlej juice that pops out and just runs everywhere I was just like we you can't end the movie like this I mean obviously it didn't ruin the movie for me but it was just a very WTF moment it was it really it really was but honestly there was a part of my brain that like when that baby Beetle Juice popped out that I'm like if this is really how we're going to end of the movie a kids movie I think I think I kind of I think I kind of dig out like kind of this like weird like out of [ __ ] nowhere just like immediately she gets married we see like into the future she's giving birth it's a Beetlejuice baby inexplicably it murders a doctor and then she just kind of holds it and like kind of smiles if it cut to Black right there I would have gotten up in my seat and started to clap that would that's that was so ballsy but then it it comes back and it's like wiona rider having a dream the Beetlejuice is next to her he's like I just had a really weird dream it is a funny movie it's oh my God I laugh out loud ridiculous and I was just like am I the only one laughing why is no one else laughing it was it was kind of a de theater but uh there is this moment that was in the trailer but wasn't in the movie where Jenna oro's character gets spooked by a bunch of classmates oh and there was a change in in in the dialogue because in the trailer it's a very more descript sort of roast to those like students that SC her but in the movie it wasn't it's it's like the trailer line I remember it it's like when you're all on your third marriage banging your pilat instructors to fill the hole in your hearts we'll see you who has the laugh last laugh and then the movie it's like when you're all on your third marriage with five kids then we'll see it's kind of like Che it feel it felt like ADR like we cut the movie Down cut that line a bit or like I don't think it would have serviced the PG rating is it PG I think it's PG I don't know if it would service the PG-13 rating if there was like another like line of that N I probably would but who know I mean but anyways I I enjoyed the film were there any issues with you for this film it's really just the first kind of Act of the movie are like a little over like I guess it's not the First Act maybe like about 40 minutes of this film just feels like a lot of setup yeah uh because a lot of it is kind of the incident that brings uh Winona Ryder and her family back home is uh her dad dies in the claymation um and then we're kind of just like trapped in like the house from the original film we're kind of just trapped there for a while and it keeps cutting back to like Beetle Juice up to his Shenanigans he's being chased by his ex-wife Monica beluchi and uh and it's weird cuz they set her up like if you see the marketing the movie it sets her up like she's probably the main villain but the final boss yeah she kind of shows up at the beginning puts herself back together murders Danny DeVito and then for the rest of the movie she's kind of just gliding around doing kind of unrelated murders not doing much and so she's really like a b or c plot and we keep cutting back and they're just like in the house she felt like sand she she is the Sandman of this Mo this I think this is the first time your Spiderman pull has actually I think it actually kind of works for this it's kind of like the First Act is a lot of like uh setup a lot of plot lines get set up and once we get to like the end of the movie they kind of like are quickly attempting to like wrap them up and so it makes for I think a bit of a messy experience but what saves it from kind of like collapsing in on itself is the fact that it's so so imaginative and so very funny it's able to distract you with like a bunch of great gags and performances so that like you can I I can mostly forgive some of the pacing issues and narrative problems because it is an incredibly fun movie a great it's a Vibe it's a Vibe movie yeah there are moments where like the CGI was just so off and I was just like but that's great that's what makes the film so like endearing it really it really works like if an effect is kind of off cuz you know like and again like a lot again it's an homage to the 80s it's an homage to that time and when you see the the bad CGI you're just like yeah but I don't mind that like I think it's kind of cool and a majority of the movie is like he again like it's like puppets and stop motion animatronics and that stuff just looks really good like all the times like it's it's during the interrogation with Willam defo it plays in the trailers where he's like have you seen this woman and his face just like bulges eyes pop out and then immediately goes to I've never seen that chick before in my life it's like that's it's a lot of fun gags it's really just like a fun little hangout movie honestly yeah it's it's you said it perfectly it's a Vibe it's a Vibe yeah it's it's a nice film you can it's an airplane movie yeah you can put this on you know in the background maybe maybe not airplane movie but it's a movie that you can just put in the background you just have pay attention to yeah it's like it's a it's it'd be a fun movie to play like with like people over like at a Halloween party yeah if you're if you have kids if you have friends I don't but like you can play that movie you look adorable thank you I hate when women use Halloween as an excuse to dress up like [ __ ] you know yeah okay everyone but how was your theater experience my theater experience it was pretty quiet uh it was me and my girlfriends and then like maybe like two people over here and then like two people over there everyone was kind of quiet it was nice but again I think like it would have been nice if people were laughing cuz a lot of the movie is very funny and so when they do a joke and like I'm like and it's like yeah oh I guess I I suck oops yeah same here I was laughing and I was just like am I the only one laughing why the only one alive right now so in my theater I bought ticket I bought a ticket for myself only myself I was I went to the theater and there was just like a like a caution wet floor sign near my seat so I'm like oh that's all I'll just pick this random seat over here and then like it was the back row so I was like okay cool I'll just pick the back row back last seat and I was watching it and it was a bunch of I wouldn't say there was like a bunch of kids there but it was it was a nice amount of kids I'd say a nice amount of kids nice amount of Jeffrey Jones would say that nice amount of kids at Beetlejuice yeah and they were very considerate oh considering that they were like young and that they were watching like a horror ES film they were very considerate and it was one of the most Pleasant movie theater experiences I've had so far this year wow that's great it wasn't it was early in the morning so probably that's has something to do with it but it was a nice pleasant feel nice yeah just nice Vibes dude nice Vibes yeah just nice VI for us and all kids you just just me and these kids just me and these kids dude it's that scene from Freddy Got Fingered where it's just like Freddy with a bunch of kids watching Texas Chainsaw Massac hey you can talk about it when you're ready yeah yeah that's basically that was basically me at the screening for for not Fredy go finger for yeah yeah but I don't there's nothing much I can add to it besides no you want to wrap up your thoughts with it or I guess yeah to wrap them up I guess I'll say it is a bit messy but for for a sequel of a movie that is you said 36 years ago yeah 88 was the last was the original one I believe so yeah but damn that's a while um yeah for a sequel that's come out and that I think is still can still be fresh doesn't feel like it's like egging on the like success and like constantly like referring back like remember this remember this remember this like bring in a new story some new characters some new gags new stuff to add to the world just to you know keep things moving keep it good for like new people coming in I think that's very commendable it's nice to see Tim Burton back in the saddle kind of directing to his strengths his imagination his unique visual style it's really nice to see whatever problems I might have honestly they feel like nitpicks because the movie is just it's so energetic and fun that it's it's like trying to criticize like a Looney Tunes cartoon it's like what are you doing yeah it's like trying to criticize like a like a confectionary candy yeah you know kind of similar it's it's perfect for the Halloween season cuz this movie is a sweet little candy yeah it's like trying to criticize candy corn you know I mean anyone can criticize candy corn candy Corn's the we it's the weakest candy I actually kind of like candy corn really it's I mean I don't hate it it's sweet kind of has a tart feeling to it I guess it does kind of similar to this movie I'd say kind of kind of is feels like candy corn you know the the i i overall final thoughts wrapping up I enjoy this film uh again like if I had a child which I don't have a child but if I had a child I'd definitely show them this movie I definitely bring them to the cinema to watch this movie it's definitely a better option than watching like I don't know Borderlands with the crow or oh God I don't even know I don't even know if those movies are still in like the theater I hope not I hope to God they aren't I think Borderlands is straight to streaming though oh just it should be straight to the trash fire yeah so that's that's it for us yeah two thumbs up that's the great fisll and rer would say yeah yeah CIS and rer Eber and rer yeah I think I think that's it for us answer for us overall we don't know what movie we'll discuss next what's out speak no evil is out next week Jesus I've seen the trailer enough times to se the entire movie watch I don't want to watch it no I've seen the trailer so many times how about let's not watch it yeah we're not going to watch evil and we will say that we did and though stay the film address yeah no we'll say that we saw yeah we we saw speak no evil we saw you know a good you know two three minute speak no evil movie yeah before our our actual movie that we discussed we said they played the whole movie before Beetle juu Beetlejuice even played it was great it was such a nice little tree speak no evil on next week and that's that's about it awesome that's it we'll find something I don't know what we'll discuss next dude Reagan it's in the wings I don't want to discuss rean dude he may catch up a vegetable all right I think that's it for us I think we've we've exceeded our limit on this pod go watch Beetle Juice Beetle Juice go see Beetle Juice Beetle Juice peace bye