As a devoted fan of Tim Burton’s works since my teenage years, I have to say that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a delightful return to the whimsical and macabre universe I fell in love with decades ago. The sequel expertly blended horror and humor, allowing the original cast members to shine while introducing new characters and expanding the mythology. However, there’s one aspect that has been nagging at me – the inconsistent treatment of time crunch from the 1988 original.
After a gap of 36 years, the movie “Beetlejuice” made its comeback on the big screen on September 6, 2024, and effortlessly outperformed its competition at the box office. In the highly anticipated sequel titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice“, Tim Burton masterfully blended horror and humor, giving the original cast a chance to shine while introducing fresh characters and expanding the mythological universe. However, fans have pointed out an interesting discrepancy regarding the time constraint in the purgatory from the 1988 version that appears surprisingly absent in the humorous sequel.
In the movie “Beetlejuice”, characters Adam (played by Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (portrayed by Geena Davis) leave their home for a brief moment, only to find themselves in an unusual desert landscape where time seems to move at a faster pace than on Earth. When they get back home, they discover that two hours have elapsed, even though they were gone for just minutes. This same situation is repeated in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, although without the urgency of the time-constraint, which has led some viewers to criticize the continuity as inconsistent. However, considering the original movie’s plot, the timing of Lydia’s wedding should be adjusted to maintain consistency with the established lore.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Omits the Original Movie’s Time Crunch
Despite Adam and Barbara Maitland not making an on-screen appearance in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, they significantly contribute to the sequel’s storyline. In the opening scene, the camera glides over a scaled replica of Winter River (originally owned by Adam) where miniature representations of Adam, Barbara, and their overturned car are placed under a covered bridge near the river.
Later on in the following movie, Lydia (Winona Ryder) explains this to her doubtful teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) that Adam and Barbara managed to break free from their captivity at home via a loophole concerning existence. This event leaves Lydia feeling sorrowful since she had forged a deep connection with them in the initial film. Tragically, Adam and Barbara met their end when their car plunged off a bridge as they swerved to save a dog at the last moment. Posthumously, Adam and Barbara find themselves in The Netherworld, a dismal interim realm where they are assigned a number and given a guidebook titled “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased ” by their caseworker.
In the movie “Beetlejuice”, upon Adam and Barbara’s return home from the strange realm of The Netherworld, they discover that their absence lasted months, even though only a few minutes had passed in reality. This sets up the unusual concept of time manipulation for the deceased characters, which is not strictly adhered to in the sequel. Later on, when Adam steps through a door at his house and finds himself standing on Saturn’s moon surrounded by colossal Sandworms, Barbara manages to rescue him before he becomes their meal. Interestingly, Adam was only outside for a brief moment, but Barbara informs him that he had been missing for two hours, providing more evidence of the time-dilation effects displayed in the film “Beetlejuice”.
In the movie “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” various characters traverse the Netherworld, a realm where time flows unlike in its original state. For instance, Astrid is deceived by Jeremy (Arthur Conti), a spectral killer who coerces her to exchange their lives, navigating the bureaucratic processes within this gruesome purgatory. Later, Delia (Catherine O’Hara) laments that she isn’t deceased or meant for The Netherworld. However, upon their return home, there is no fast-forwarding of time; instead, the sequence of events unfolds at a regular pace, culminating in Lydia and Rory’s (Justin Theroux) Halloween wedding.
Lydia and Rory’s Wedding Should Have Occurred Much Later
At Charles’ funeral’s reception, Rory proposed to Lydia on Halloween just two days later. Lydia hesitantly accepted, but this didn’t sit well with Astrid and Delia. However, given the amount of time Lydia spends trying to free Astrid from Jeremy in the realm of The Netherworld, which is said to have different temporal rules, it appears unrealistic that she would return to marry Rory two days late.
If Beetlejuice 2 had stuck to the time constraints set in the first film, Lydia and Astrid would have returned to Winter River well after Halloween, which means their grand wedding ceremony as planned on Lydia’s favorite holiday wouldn’t have happened. The fact that this change in timeline doesn’t affect the enjoyment of the wedding song based on Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park” is interesting, but it does raise questions about the continuity between the original Tim Burton film and the sequel.
During the wedding scene, Astrid quickly sets a trap for Delores (Monica Bellucci), whom Beetlejuice’s evil ex is, by creating a secret entrance on the floor, following the handbook’s instructions. This door mysteriously leads to one of Saturn’s moons, where colossal sandworms roam through the church, devouring Delores and Rory, then transporting them back to the moon. Since time passes much quicker on this moon compared to Earth, the sequence’s continuity is a bit blurry. Despite the somewhat puzzling timeline in the afterlife of Beetlejuice, it doesn’t significantly affect the overall enjoyment of the movie, which does so many things correctly that this illogical after-timeline barely stands out.
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2024-09-14 05:31