Review: Michael Keaton plays the funniest role ever as Beetlejuice raises his freak flag

The fall movie season is kicking off in full swing with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, now in theaters after opening the cheesy Venice Film Festival. The sequel feels like it's obsessed with Tim Burton's 1988 original, and that's exactly how it should feel. Not everything worked 36 years ago. And there are rough patches this time around, too. But what works, works like crazy.

What a treat to welcome back Michael Keaton in his funniest role yet as Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice), the babbling, decaying corpse and trickster demon who hilariously manages to be absolutely disgusting. The first film won an Oscar for the makeup but nothing for Keaton, which shows the Academy's disdain for comedic acting. Keaton's Beetlejuice is a perennial favorite.

Also back is Winona Ryder in top form as Lydia Deetz, the former goth teenager who now hosts a reality show about haunted houses and how to get rid of them. Lydia has a daughter of her own, Astrid, played wonderfully by Jenna Ortega, the star of Burton's TV hit Wednesday. Astrid thinks her mother is crazy, but we don't doubt her love for a second.

The great Catherine O'Hara is also back as Delia, Lydia's evil stepmother. But the crux of the plot cooked up by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar is how Lydia will deal with Beetlejuice, who is still angry that young Lydia jilted him three decades ago. It seems that our favorite devil will have to marry a human to truly torment other people on Earth.

Got it? Whatever. The fun is in the interactions, which begin when the Deetz family gathers in their own haunted house in Winter River, Connecticut, to mourn a death in the family. No spoilers, except to say that this sequel offers more emotion than the original ever intended.

There are laughs too. Big laughs with surprising visual jokes that dazzle and delight. The action begins when Beetlejuice is summoned from the afterlife by someone repeating his name three times.

Suddenly he's there, the bio-exorcist from the corridors of hell, dealing with his vengeful ex-wife Delores (a stunning Monica Bellucci) who is stapling her severed body parts back together with a stapler while the Bee Gees sing “Tragedy.” Burton is back, baby!

Just wait until you see their romance rekindled in a poorly dubbed black-and-white Italian film. The visual jokes are endless. And original composer Danny Elfman provides a score you can jump back and forth to. And look out for a ghost detective who was once a B-movie actor. It's a role Willem Dafoe can romp around in. All of the technical achievements are superb, particularly Haris Zambarloukos's cinematography, Colleen Atwood's fabulously eccentric costumes, and the drop-in songs, which reach their maximum comical power when the cast lip-syncs to Richard Harris's mangled “MacArthur Park.”

A big compliment also goes to the practical effects, which far surpass the usual digital pyrotechnics. Burton makes everything look handmade and that is irresistible.

Among my complaints (you knew this was coming) is that the film is overloaded with subplots. Lydia has a sleazy, ponytailed boyfriend played by Justin Theroux, and Astrid is involved with a Dostoyevsky fan (Arthur Conti). The most unforgivable sin is reducing Keaton's screen time to just 17 minutes, but damn, does he make the most of every minute.

Ultimately, though, it all comes down to Beetlejuice letting his freak flag fly. And he does. As the man says, “The juice is on.” Act accordingly.