There is a lot to unpack by the end of ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice takes us back to Winter River and leaves us wondering how many adventures we can get with the Juice. Michael Keaton is back in Tim Burton’s followup to the 1988 film, and while it’s a great bit of nostalgia, there is a lot to unpack.
Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) has to return to the Maitlands’ home when her father Charles dies by shark bite. Honestly, kind of a funny way of getting around the horrific crimes of Jeffrey Jones. So while they are all back in Winter River, a couple of things happen that lead to the final moments of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Lydia’s fiancé Rory (Justin Theroux) has joined the cast, as well as her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who was taken out of school to attend her grandfather’s funeral with her mother and step-grandmother, Delia (Catherine O’Hara).
With the whole family in town and Beetlejuice being well aware of Lydia being close by, the ending of the film brings everyone together in an explosive dance number to wrap everything up.
What happened with Astrid?
Astrid meets the boy next door when she accidentally crashes into his fence. Jeremy (Arthur Conti) is in his tree house, and the two form a relationship together—that is, until his master plan is unveiled, and he’s actually a ghost trying to come to life again. Worse than that, he murdered his family and is willing to trap Astrid in the Neitherworld in exchange for his own life.
Luckily, Astrid’s father Richard (Santiago Cabrera) finds her in the Neitherworld and helps save her from Jeremy’s plan. It forces a nice reunion between Lydia and her ex-husband and gives Astrid the closure with her father that she needs. It also prevents Astrid from joining Beetlejuice in death.
Why didn’t Rory and Lydia get married?
Rory is supposed to marry Lydia, but when Lydia is trying to save Astrid, she ends up making a deal with Beetlejuice. She will finally marry him, like he wanted all those years ago (for his freedom), and in return, he will help her save Astrid. It is a typical move for Beetlejuice but puts them both in the church for Lydia’s wedding night (that was supposed to be with Rory), and everyone performs a dance number to the Richard Harris cover of “MacArthur Park.”
It is revealed that Rory doesn’t actually love Lydia, and the wedding with Beetlejuice doesn’t work out, as Delores (Monica Bellucci) has been awoken in the Neitherworld and is determined to find and kill Beetlejuice. She is the reason he was dead in the first place, and he is trying to avoid her the entire movie (which includes marrying Lydia to be free). Before than can happen, Delores shows up, and the film ends with Lydia single after everything is all said and done.
Delia has to say goodbye
Part of Delia’s artistic goodbye to Charles included defanging two poisonous snakes. When she goes to his grave to have them wrap themselves around her, they bite her and prove that she was actually lied to. Delia goes to the Neitherworld and wants to fight the waiting room line, but eventually, Beetlejuice finds her and brings her to his wedding with Lydia.
By the end, Lydia and Astrid learn that Delia has died and we get to see her go back to the Neitherworld and ride the Soul Train to the afterlife with Charles.
Lydia and Astrid are close
We get to see a glimpse into a future where Lydia learned the importance of spending time with her daughter. She ends her show Ghost House to spend more time with Astrid, and we get to see a future where they go to Dracula’s castle (like Astrid and Richard always wanted to do), and Astrid even gets married.
When Astrid is having her first baby, Lydia is watching and is terrified to see the birth, yet again, of Baby Beetlejuice, and Lydia quickly wakes up and realizes it as just a nightmare. But that nightmare isn’t over, because Beetlejuice is in the bed next to Lydia talking about his weird dream. Finally, Lydia wakes up in a bed by herself but it leaves us wondering: Is the Juice coming back?
Could the Juice be loose again?
The end of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice made it seem as if Beetlejuice was finally going to be trapped in the Neitherworld forever. However, he did actually help Lydia and the Deetz family this time around, so maybe this little dream sequence at the end of the movie was the film’s way of leaving the future open for more Beetlejuice stories.
Personally, I think it works either way. It could be that Beetlejuice is finally defeated, or we could come back to Winter River some day. For now, we have a new movie to unpack and explore and that’s exciting!
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