Review: 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' has a lot of the juice of Tim Burton's 1988 original, but clutters up the comedy with disappointing distractions

I’m old enough, and have been watching movies long enough, that the words “directed by Tim Burton” still evokes a Pavlovian reaction of hope — a hope that this time, he’ll finally figure out how to recapture the magic he showed in his early career, with such absurdist, even surrealist masterpieces as “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” “Edward Scissorhands” and “Beetlejuice.”

Surely, this time, the stars would align, I thought watching “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” a sequel that’s been percolating for 36 years — where Burton reunites with a spectacular cast (Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara) on very familiar territory. This time for sure, I thought, like Charlie Brown running toward that football.

And while, this time, Burton gets more right than he gets wrong, there remains something just a bit off about this follow-up to the anarchic 1988 comedy about people coming to terms with becoming “recently deceased.”

The movie starts with Ryder’s character, Lydia Deetz, turning her experience with the afterlife into a lucrative career as host of a paranormal talk show — one produced by her simpering boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux). Lydia’s artist stepmom, Delia (O’Hara), is using performance art to cope with the recent death of her husband and Lydia’s father, Charles, who met a nasty death on the ocean. (The events of Charles’ death are depicted in stop-motion animation, sparing audiences the sight of actor Jeffrey Jones, who’s not getting much work these days for reasons you can Google for yourself if you like.)

Meanwhile, Lydia’s daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), is bullied at her boarding school for being considered strange — too much like her mother, though neither would ever admit it. Astrid is mourning the death of her father, killed in the Amazon, and questions why of all the ghosts Lydia encounters, she never sees Dad.

Charles’ death forces the three generations of Deetz women to return to Winter River, Conn., to the house where the family first encountered the netherworld and the mischievous ghost known as Betelgeuse — played again by Keaton, who’s oddly grown into the role. Because of what happens after that, Lydia is forced to do the one thing she most feared: Saying that spirit’s name three times and seeking his help.

When Burton and screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (who most recently co-created “Wednesday,” the “Addams Family” spinoff starring Ortega) focus on Astrid, Lydia and Delia, and their strained mother-daughter relations, the movie generates a lot of sharp, knowing laughs. Keaton’s addition to that mix generates some of the funniest moments, particularly when sparking against Ryder’s acerbic Lydia.

That nexus of talent is so engaging that it’s annoying when Burton & Co. get distracted with an overflow of subplots and side characters. The biggest misfire, of many, is Monica Bellucci’s turn as Delores, a soul-sucking demon who wants revenge on her former husband, Betelgeuse. (On the other hand, Willem Dafoe as an afterlife detective — really, an action-movie actor playing a cop — is worthy of his own sequel.)

Still, there’s enough that’s enjoyable — and sometimes sidesplittingly funny — about “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” that it’s hard to get mad at it. It’s a dark ride, but a fun one.

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‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’

★★★

Opens Friday, September 6, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use. Running time: 104 minutes.