If the original Beetlejuice is the pilot episode of a sitcom, then Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a good second episode. Not better or worse than the first one, just the same characters in a new situation. The sequel replicates the tone and style of the original, which has proven to be timeless. 38 years later and the character, world and humour of Beetlejuice are still just as delightful as they were in 1988.

Following the sudden death of her father (don’t Google him), Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) has to reunite with her relatives; specifically her eccentric mother (Catherine O’Hara) and her resentful daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega). The ceremony takes place at the old family home in Winter River, Connecticut, which of course reminds Lydia of Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). Unfortunately, some meddling with the afterlife by Astrid forces Lydia to summon the ghost with the most to form an unlikely alliance.

This may be an unpopular opinion but to me, there isn’t a lot to Beetlejuice. The substance of the first film certainly shows however the star of the show was always the style; the sets, the makeup, the animation, the jokes.

Hence most of what critics have been nitpicking didn’t bother me.

If the film had a single focused storyline, unless it was exceptionally well written (which I would frankly never expect from Burton and Co. nowadays), it would risk being either too similar to the first one or too different.

Fortunately, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s abundance of subplots left me feeling like I had returned to the world of the first film and seen some more of it, which is what you want from a sequel really.

The plots that follow Lydia, her mother and Beetlejuice are very reminiscent of the first film. However, the plots that follow Astrid and Beetlejuice’s ex Delores (Monica Bellucci) offers a lot of new stuff.

We learn more about the afterlife, its departments and how to get in and out of it.

We learn more about Beetlejuice, his marriage to Delores and how he became the ghost we know and love.

All these plots recreate the style and tone of the original flawlessly, despite being written nearly 40 years later. For me, the ‘marriage counselling’ featuring Beetlejuice, Lydia and her husband (Justin Theroux) is a great example of this.

There is a gag that made my jaw drop, it has that perfect mix of disgust, horror and absurdity that is intrinsic to Beetlejuice’s aura.

Like any good episode of TV, all the subplots dovetail at the climax in said aura.

As I said before, there isn’t a lot to the first Beetlejuice but that’s not to say that making a good sequel to it is an easy task. For a ‘legacy sequel’ or ‘soft reboot,’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is kind of a miracle. It understands what the first film is, what territory it left to explore and how to use that territory while repurposing the original’s style and acknowledging the decades that have passed.

It’s good fun.

I give Beetlejuice Beetlejuice a spooky 8 out of 10.