But the wild stories about how the sequel came to be make it even better.
Charles Deetzs shocking stop-motion death scene was based on a typically eccentric personal confession from Burton.
The now-iconic MacArthur Park dance sequence at the sequels climax almost wasnt in the movie at all.
If Burton hadnt worked onWednesday,Beetlejuice Beetlejuicemight not have ever gotten made.
Whenever they were both in Los Angeles, they would meet up to share ideas for the potential follow-up.
Its clear that neither of them wanted to do a sequel just for the sake of it.
But Ortega was particularly freaked out to meet Keaton in character as one of his most iconic roles.
Keaton had prosthetics peeling off his face when he casually introduced himself: Oh, hey, Im Michael.
As terrifying as it was, at least it made for a great late-night anecdote.
Instead, Burton pulled off this sequence as an elaborate performance art piece.
Thefilming of Delores resurrection sequencewas pretty complex.
Monica Bellucci had to learn complicated choreography for each individual body part.
Burton and his team used practical methods wherever possible and only resorted to digital effects when all else failed.
Its easy to see the influence thatWednesdayhad onBeetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Plus, narratively and stylistically,Beetlejuice 2borrows a lot fromWednesday.
In a quirky stop-motion animated sequence, Charles is onboard a plane that crashes in the ocean.
He miraculously survives the crash, and then gets eaten by a shark.
But theres someone else in the movie that Theroux found even funnier.
Theroux said that he was constantly laughing at her during the shooting ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuice.
He ruined a bunch of takes by laughing at OHaras typically hysterical performance.
The chain of character-breaking continued beyond Theroux.
He didnt want the writers ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceto consult any of those previous drafts for ideas.
Burton wanted the sequel to be created from scratch.
After reading the script, Burton thought DeVito would be perfect for the part.
He clearly had fun with the role, so it all worked out.
In the DVD commentary forBeetlejuice 2,Burton confirmed that he voiced Baby Betelgeuse.
According to Gough,MacArthur Park wasnt in the originalBeetlejuice 2script.
It was Burtons idea to add in a musical number set to MacArthur Park.
Now, the song will forever be associated withBeetlejuice Beetlejuice.
