Burton and Keaton resurrect the fun in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’

In an era of cash-grab sequels, Tim Burton knows how to keep his fans entertained. Thirty-six years after “Beetlejuice” became an improbable cult classic, the director and stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara are all back for a Harry Belafonte-scored party.

Just don’t linger on the plot holes, some of which are big enough for a sandworm to slither through. 

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” returns to the scary-good campiness that made the original comedy horror so iconic. For die-hards, the film delivers visually on the zany, nightmarish imagination of Burton. Filled with references to the original, the comedy horror is a roller coaster ride of fan service. But some of the jokes feel like they’ve been marinating in their own juices for 36 years. While the sequel is not as heartfelt as “Frankenweenie” or “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” or as inventive as “Edward Scissorhands,” the “Batman” director is clearly having a good time – and so will his fans.

The film picks up with Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), now channeling her punk look and rebellious nature into a popular television show on which she uses her ability to communicate with the dead. Meanwhile, Lydia’s daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), wants nothing to do with the family’s supernatural legacy – or with her mother’s sleazy business manager/boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux). Then there’s Lydia’s stepmother, Delia (Catherine O’Hara), a pretentious multimedia artist. The three generations of women are drawn back together by the death of patriarch Charles, played in the first movie by now disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Jones. The women find themselves returning to the haunted house in Winter River and its resident undead chaos agent. (There is no sign of Geena Davis or Alec Baldwin – and no room in the plot for them anyway.)

Keaton seems to relish reprising his role as the ghost with the most, reviving the irreverent creepiness that made the original so memorable. The mischievous demon gives the audience a backstory to his former life, through a hilarious cutaway to an Italian film-noir dream sequence. Once a grave robber – although his vibe is much more used car salesman – he falls in love with cult leader Delores (Monica Bellucci). After a killer entrance in which she stitches herself back together, Belluci is off on an underwritten revenge tour that doesn’t give the actor enough to do.

In the film, Ryder and Ortega’s mother-daughter bond spans the generational gap without missing a calypso beat. Ortega is an easy fit as Astrid, given her role as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series for which Burton was executive producer. For a younger audience that wasn’t around in the 1980s, Ortega serves as a spirit guide to the ghosts in the attic. 

Still sporting the same truly terrible bangs from the original, Ryder is caught here between a skull and a gravestone. Her daughter believes she’s a total fraud, and her boyfriend doesn’t care if she can see ghosts, as long as he can make money off them. Then there’s her artist mom, played again by O’Hara with charming self-centeredness. 

Willem Dafoe is a hilarious standout in the film’s menagerie of madness. As Wolf Jackson, a B-list action star who once played a detective, Dafoe in his turn as the ghostly top cop adds a burst of fun and frivolity, making the movie far more enjoyable whenever he is on screen.

At the sold-out screening I attended, fans showed up in costume, snatching up poster memorabilia and taking pictures to commemorate the moment. The movie is infused with enough of Burton’s beguiling gothic vibe to kick off the Halloween season, but the plot holes are large enough for the Great Pumpkin to fill. 

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is rated PG-13 for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material, and brief drug use.