It's tempting to say that we can thank the success of Top Gun: Maverick for the appearance of a number of what we may call long-period sequels to other hits of yesteryear – I'm thinking of Twisters as well as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. But perhaps this is an optical illusion of sorts, just a coincidence: by all accounts there was a complete script for a Beetlejuice sequel ready to go back in 1991, entitled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, which will never see the light of day as key members of the cast are a bit too old now. However, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (I hope this doesn't start a trend), inevitably directed by Tim Burton, takes into account the advancing age of many of the participants, and the fact that one-time fresh-faced ingenues doing their first big role may well now be seasoned veterans enjoying a late-career resurgence.

There is, to put it mildly, a lot going on here. Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is now the hostess of one of those terrible ghost-hunting reality TV shows and in a relationship with her manager (Justin Theroux, who in accordance with tradition we must confirm is the Iron Man 2 guy, not the Prime Minister of Canada), but finds herself called back to the family home from the first film after the death of her father (one suspects this is simply because the actor who played the role in 1988 was Weinsteined a few years ago and is currently unemployable). She ends up there with her mum (Catherine O'Hara) and her daughter (Jenna Ortega); the ghosts of the Maitlands are not around, as due to 'a loophole' they have been able to move on to the next phase of existence (which even one of the characters observes is convenient).

Meanwhile, in the world beyond the grave, demonic bio-exorcist Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton, who unlike last time gets top billing) is doing his thing while occasionally pining for Lydia. But it turns out he has bigger problems as a freak accident causes the reappearance of his ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci) who, once she pulls herself together, starts hunting him down. Keeping an eye on all this are the afterlife cops, personified by Willem Dafoe.

So, as you can perhaps see, there are a lot of moving parts here (there are a few other significant subplots that I haven't even mentioned) and to begin with this looks ominously like a film where the makers couldn't decide which of their ideas to work with and ended up including all of them, producing a sprawling mess of different plotlines and running jokes. But, rather surprisingly, Burton pulls it back to some extent – there's a pretty decent twist round about the midpoint, following which the story snaps into focus (more or less) and starts to acquire some momentum.

But, of course, the main question we must ask ourselves when it comes to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a very simple one that cuts to the heart of the film's quality and place in the film firmament: namely, how does it compare to Hellbound: Hellraiser 2? Well, the thing is that I have to say this is a more conventional sequel than Hellbound, largely focusing on the same kind of plot and character elements as the original – it's a traditional 'mostly the same with a few innovations' kind of follow-up. This inevitably means that while Beetlejuice and Hellraiser have a surprising number of similarities, the same can't really be said of the two sequels. This isn't necessarily a bad thing – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is, as mentioned, relatively coherent as a piece of storytelling, which isn't something anyone sane has ever said about Hellbound. Set against this, while Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (I'm rapidly losing patience with typing that title) dabbles with some bad-taste jokes, splatstick comedy and political incorrectness, it's nothing like the sustained and grotesque assault on the notion of restraint and morality that Hellbound ultimately constitutes. But Beetlejuice x2 definitely has better jokes in it, because it has jokes in it.

But having said that. . . it's not there aren't any good lines, of course, but for me the appeal of the film and the thing that kept me from looking at my watch too often was Burton's visual style and the sheer imagination of the production. I am not by any means an unqualified fan of Tim Burton, as his films too often seem to concentrate on aesthetics rather than storytelling, and he can't direct action sequences worth a bean, but here the weirdness of the backdrop and the characters is the main draw of the film, with some very witty touches (the ghost of a character who drowned in the Amazon is covered in still-twitching piranha fish). Nor is it entirely visual – the big set piece this time is a musical sequence set to Richard Harris' proverbially strange recording of the song MacArthur Park.

Even so, you do find yourself wondering if this isn't all just a bit self-indulgent, especially when it comes to the cast list – do all these people really need to be here? Monica Bellucci gets a terrific introductory scene but then spends the rest of the film just striding around imperiously, and the unworthy thought did enter my head that she's only here because Tim Burton, perennial puncher above his weight, always casts whoever he's in a relationship with in his films. Willem Dafoe also feels somewhat grafted onto the film.

Of the newcomers, it is only Jenna Ortega who genuinely impresses – not least by her ability to convincingly play a teenager when she's into her twenties. I'm aware she has done high-profile stuff on TV and streamers but the only other thing I have really seen her in is X, and everyone else in that movie is outshone by Mia Goth one way or another. But Ortega is very good here – it might be a good idea for her to look for a nice high-profile non-horror-adjacent role as her next project, though.

Beetlejuice x2 has arguably been released a month and a half too early, as it is clearly going to be a staple of the Halloween period in years to come: it's kind of weird and creepy and a bit macabre but there's no malice or intent to unsettle or genuinely scare in it. In the end I thought it was a quite amiable piece of entertainment – which, given all the talent directed at it, probably constitutes damnation by faint praise. But as I say, it's fun, if not especially memorable.

Awix

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