“Beetlejuice” is one of those movies that’s near and dear to the hearts of many folks.

Talk to a few of them, and you discover that while some couldn’t be happier there’s finally a sequel to director Tim Burton’s 1988 dark comedy fantasy — which boasted a delightfully over-the-top Michael Keaton as the sleazy titular demon (or, as he calls himself at one point, “the ghost with the most, babe”) — others worry about a follow-up that reeks of a cash grab and that could taint what they love so much. Heck, Keaton acknowledged such concerns in an interview with People, saying, “We thought, ‘You got to get this right. Otherwise, just don’t do it. Let’s just go on with our lives and do other things.’”

Well, he, Burton and “Beetlejuice” co-star Winona Ryder chose to make “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and we think most fans will be glad they did.

In theaters this week, the film honors its predecessor while telling a story that, refreshingly, manages to avoid being a remix of the first movie’s narrative.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” greets us with a familiar font for its opening credits sequence, backed by the unmistakable orchestral work of composer Danny Elfman. Within moments, we are reintroduced to Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, who still can see and communicate with ghosts, an ability she eventually turned into a profitable asset as the host of “Ghost House.”

During this day’s taping, she is alarmed when she briefly sees old nemesis Beetlejuice in the studio audience. Needing a break, she runs to the restroom, does her best to ignore a spirit hanging out in there and pops some pills. Finding her, producer and life partner Rory (Justin Theroux) dumps the pills, which she tries to hide from him, before retrieving them from the trash at her urging and taking one himself. (Seems like a real winner, this one.)

Lydia soon is contacted by her stepmother, Delia Deetz (a returning and enjoyable-as-ever Catherine O’Hara), who tells her her father, Charles, has died unexpectedly. (The character is represented in the film in a couple of ways that do not involve “Beetlejuice” actor Jeffrey Jones, who has found himself in some legal trouble, starting in the early 2000s.)

The plan is to memorialize and mourn for Charles back in his beloved old getaway house in Winter River, the setting for the original movie, with artist Delia planning an elaborate grief-themed installation of sorts.

The first order of business is to pick up Lydia’s teen daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), from her private school, where the other students torment her because of her famous mom. Problem is, Astrid has been pretty frosty toward Lydia since the death of Astrid’s beloved father, who taught her how to fight for causes such as the climate and how to make the most of dressing up for Halloween.

Astrid doesn’t even believe that her mom can see ghosts — especially because the one she sees she can’t see is her former love — and hasn’t been answering her calls.

Nonetheless, three generations of Deetz women find themselves in Winter River, where, among other things, Rory fails miserably with his attempts to bond with Astrid.

She’d rather hang out with a boy she meets, Jeremy (Arthur Conti). In his room reside records from 1990s bands — he says he doesn’t trust anything he can’t touch — and a certain book that will be familiar to “Beetlejuice” fans.

Lydia eventually has a bigger problem than her daughter’s resentment in Beetlejuice, who, of course, can be summoned when his name is spoken three times and does find a way back to the land of the living. You can’t really blame him for pining for a life with Lydia considering that he’s being hunted by his ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci), who, as a soul sucker, can turn the dead into the “dead-dead.” (Sounds bad.)

She, in turn, is being pursued by Wolf Jackson (a delightfully hammy Willem Dafoe), an afterlife law enforcement officer who played a cop in a TV show. (His nonnegotiable demand to do his own stunt work did him in — and is responsible for him having a decidedly better side — and he takes his current job seriously even while reading cue cards and being regularly reminded he wasn’t actually a detective when he was among the living.)

Working from a screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, Burton (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Edward Scissorhands”) juggles all these moving parts pretty well. We would have liked more time with Bellucci — who seems made for the “Beetle”-verse and whose Delores looks goth-fabulous even after stapling herself together early in the movie.

The focus, correctly, is on Astrid, with Ortega (the Burton-produced series “Wednesday”) also an easy fit with this dark-but-zany world); Lydia, with Ryder (“Stranger Things”) given a look by the makeup and costume folks that looks like a natural evolution of that of “Beetlejuice” Lydia; and, of course, Beetlejuice, with Keaton (Burton’s “Batman”) seemingly as comfortable as ever inhabiting the wild character — who continues to be a marvel of costuming and makeup work himself.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” falls short of exceptional, but we believe even more strongly after seeing the entertaining romp that fans won’t have to wait long for a third entry, almost surely to be titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

Oh shoot, did we just summon him? We’d better go handle that.

———

‘BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use)

Running time: 1:44

How to watch: In theaters Friday

———

©2024 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio). Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.