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Spoilers, obviously, are ahead for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. If you are looking to see the legacy sequel on the 2024 movie schedule, it’s in theaters now.
There’s a lot of death in Beetlejuice, it’s kind of its thing. I get that. However, for the most part, the loss of loved ones isn’t downplayed. In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, that’s made clear, until it’s not. The passing of Delia’s husband Charles and Astrid’s father Richard (Lydia’s ex-husband) are mourned and big plot points in the movie. Meanwhile, when Delia herself dies, it’s almost shrugged off and played as a joke. With all that in mind, I think we need to take a minute to talk about the death of Catherine O’Hara’s character in Tim Burton’s sequel, because she deserved better.
Now, let’s make this clear quickly, in a lot of ways, I think Beetlejuice Beetlejuice improves on the original, and that includes through O’Hara’s character. She’s a lot more caring about Lydia and Astrid, and her mourning her husband is a bittersweet subplot of the film.
However, toward the end, she orderd two snakes that she claimed weren’t poisonous. Well, they were, and she died in a very anti-climactic way. The next thing both she and I knew she was in the afterlife. It’s played as a joke more than anything, and that bothered me.
Delia had grown a lot as a character, and it felt like we just kinda shrugged off the fact that SHE’S DEAD! I know Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega’s characters can still see her. But again, she’s dead, and that’s a big deal!
Unlike Charles, there was no funeral – at least not in this film. And when she left Asrid and Lydia, there weren’t any big emotions shown. Honestly, it felt like all of them had vague “k bye” energy.
I realize both Ryder and Ortega’s characters aren’t the closest with Delia. However, this whole movie focused around the three of them. I would have loved at least one tear shed, maybe a more emotional goodbye. I’m not picky. I just didn’t want them to brush it away and make it as casual as it was.
Of course, I’m happy Delia was reunited with Charles (or at least half of him) in the afterlife, and my guess is she’ll be very happy there. Still, her exit from the world was deeply downplayed.
I think this critique is a side-effect of a greater issue this film has: there’s too much going on. Critics’ reactions to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice pointed this out too, noting its “overstuffed narrative.” CinemaBlend’s review of the Beetlejuice sequel rightly points out that this film is “an example of reverent nostalgia done right,” and that’s true. It successfully brings back the iconic characters played by Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton. It falls short, however, because it’s trying too hard to squish as much as it can into the film.
So, because of that, subplots — like O’Hara’s — fell short, and her death ended up getting downplayed.
On top of all this, Beetlejuice is one of Catherine O’Hara’s best movies, and its sequel was shaping up to be one too, as her performance is magnificent in it. That makes the sting of her ending even worse.
Overall, though, I did thoroughly enjoy the movie, and the Schitt’s Creek star’s performance. I just wish she went out with the bang she deserved, not the fizzle and kinda sad goodbye she got.