The 2024 Venice Film Festival got underway yesterday with the world premiere of Tim Burton's long-awaited sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which opened the proceedings and was greeted with a 3-minute standing ovation.
The review embargo lifted shortly after, and critics have been weighing in online with social media reactions and a handful of full verdicts.
For the most part, it sounds like Burton has delivered a worthy follow-up to his original cult classic, with returning stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara all coming in for high praise.
Jenna Ortega's turn as Lydia Deetz's daughter Astrid may not be quite a successful, with some reviews noting that her character is not especially likeable or sympathetic, and just a little too close to her take on Wednesday Addams from the recent Netflix series.
The most important thing for fans is going to be Keaton's returning Ghost with the Most, and by all accounts, he hasn't missed a beat, infusing the film with a sense of ghoulish fun whenever he's on the screen.
Have a read through the reviews at the links below, and we'll be sure to update when we have an early Rotten Tomatoes score.
Beetlejuice is back! After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it's only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice's name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.
Burton, a genre unto himself, directs from a screenplay by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar (Wednesday), story by Gough & Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith (The LEGO Batman Movie), based on characters created by Michael McDowell & Larry Wilson. The film’s producers are Marc Toberoff, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tommy Harper and Burton, with Sara Desmond, Katterli Frauenfelder, Gough, Millar, Brad Pitt, Larry Wilson, Laurence Senelick, Pete Chiappetta, Andrew Lary, Anthony Tittanegro, Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg executive producing.
Burton’s creatives behind the scenes includes director of photography Haris Zambarloukos (Meg 2: The Trench, Murder on the Orient Express); such previous and frequent collaborators as production designer Mark Scruton (Wednesday), editor Jay Prychidny (Wednesday), Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sleepy Hollow), Oscar-winning creature effects and special makeup FX creative supervisor Neal Scanlan (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Oscar-nominated composer Danny Elfman (Big Fish, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman); and Oscar-winning hair and makeup designer Christine Blundell (Topsy-Turvy).