Beetlejuice’s sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, has taken its sweet time to arrive ― 36 years, to be exact.
But if the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes reviews are anything to go by, it seems it was worth the wait.
Released last week, the Tim Burton flick raked in a high 82% audience score on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes within a couple of days of opening.
As Metro reports, that’s the same score as the first movie.
We have to admit, though, this has us a little bit panicked about the next instalment.
After all, given that Beetlejuice is summoned by someone saying his name three times, what would happen if the next movie title repeats the moniker thrice ― and then proceeds to get the same 82% audience score again?
Will a striped-blazered character leap from cinema screens onto unsuspecting moviegoers the second Fiona from Hull casts her fateful score?
Only time will tell, we suppose.
But in the meantime, it seems safe to see the second film ― both from a critical and an existential perspective.
The movie, which stars Michael Keaton as the titular “ghost with the most” and Winona Ryder as the mother of rebellious teen Astrid (played by Jenna Ortega), also includes performances from Catherine O’Hara, Willem Defoe, and Monica Bellucci.
Fans describe it on Rotten Tomatoes as “a nice homage to the original,” “great fun,” and “very nostalgic.”
Others praised director Tim Burton’s influence on the film, with an audience critic writing: “Tim Burton is back!”
Critics seem to like it, too.
The BBC said the sequel “surpasses the original in almost every respect,” though it concedes the plotline was a little busy; The Guardian gave it a respectable three stars, saying the “fun” if “derivative” film is “pleasingly idiosyncratic and rough around the edges”.
Another Guardian review gave it two stars, however, writing that it’s “a lazily amiable horror sequel”.
You can judge the film for yourself in cinemas near you.