Right off the bat: love the 3 ninjas poster: the very best of the post-home-alone movies! Let’s cut through all the plot detials, practical FX v. CGI and any criticisms that can be found in any commercial film that largely exists for fan service: this movie suffers from a pretty bad identity crisis. Jenna Ortega and her relationship with her mother and her journey into the afterlife after being betrayed by her love interest is what makes this movie work at all. Any of the other stories, including Lydia’s struggle with her gift being exploited by her would have been husband would have served fine as secondary backdrop stories that could have worked their way into this world naturally, but the film is too preoccupied in trying to do too much with each story that the only fleshed out story that works in a cinematic way is left muddled. It tries to do too much and the fun found in the B-plots doesn’t warrant the existence of a good chunk of what it spends its time on. This could have been a solid sequel if it had the guts to have faith in its strong qualities and not rely on pleasing the audience with celebrity cameos that don’t really add the to the charm and excitement as much as it thinks it does. There is still a glimmer here of what made early Burton films work, including some super bizarre and surreal irreverent humor, but it’s still an over-blown, over-polished, and overly ambitious production. It’s especially frustrating when there’s a great sequel buried inside an okay one after so much time has passed since the original. It’s as if they’ve forgotten that the original worked so well because of Baldwin and Davis’s chemistry and talent and their focused dilemma, while Beetlejuice and the gothic world of the Deetz’s served as a natural backdrop used as a weapon to back up the heart and soul of the project. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice could have taken a cue from that and been a super informed solid sequel but I found myself waiting for fun more than I had fun. Enjoying the format and wishing your channel much luck in the algorithm!
Right off the bat: love the 3 ninjas poster: the very best of the post-home-alone movies!
Let’s cut through all the plot detials, practical FX v. CGI and any criticisms that can be found in any commercial film that largely exists for fan service: this movie suffers from a pretty bad identity crisis. Jenna Ortega and her relationship with her mother and her journey into the afterlife after being betrayed by her love interest is what makes this movie work at all. Any of the other stories, including Lydia’s struggle with her gift being exploited by her would have been husband would have served fine as secondary backdrop stories that could have worked their way into this world naturally, but the film is too preoccupied in trying to do too much with each story that the only fleshed out story that works in a cinematic way is left muddled. It tries to do too much and the fun found in the B-plots doesn’t warrant the existence of a good chunk of what it spends its time on. This could have been a solid sequel if it had the guts to have faith in its strong qualities and not rely on pleasing the audience with celebrity cameos that don’t really add the to the charm and excitement as much as it thinks it does. There is still a glimmer here of what made early Burton films work, including some super bizarre and surreal irreverent humor, but it’s still an over-blown, over-polished, and overly ambitious production. It’s especially frustrating when there’s a great sequel buried inside an okay one after so much time has passed since the original.
It’s as if they’ve forgotten that the original worked so well because of Baldwin and Davis’s chemistry and talent and their focused dilemma, while Beetlejuice and the gothic world of the Deetz’s served as a natural backdrop used as a weapon to back up the heart and soul of the project. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice could have taken a cue from that and been a super informed solid sequel but I found myself waiting for fun more than I had fun.
Enjoying the format and wishing your channel much luck in the algorithm!