Is ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ family friendly? A parent’s guide to why the movie has a PG-13 rating

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is about to take over spooky season. Can the family enjoy it together?
It’s been 26 years since “Beetlejuice” pushed the boundaries of a PG-rated movie. The horror comedy is on the cusp of being family-friendly with frequent references to death, gory images, innuendo and a notorious F-bomb from Micheal Keaton.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” turns the macabre, language and suggestive material up a notch, so it may not be suitable for younger audiences.
Here is a parent’s guide to why “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is rated PG-13 and what content you can expect from the movie.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use,” per IMDb.
The sequel takes on a “darker and relatively more mature story,” than is seen in the 1988 movie and it “takes its adult themes to the next level,” per Screen Rant.
Beetlejuice makes suggestive comments to both Lydia (Winona Ryder) and Delores (Monica Bellucci). In the trailer, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) accuses a group of her classmates of “banging (their) pilates instructors” to fill a void.
Jump scares, ghastly creatures and sharp weapons like knives are shown throughout the movie. Strong language is used frequently.
Like its predecessor, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is loaded with gory, gut-churning imagery. Most of these images err on the side of cartoonish, but could still be frightening for younger audiences.
You’ll see a woman staple her face shut, a ghost’s head being taken on and off, cartoonish guts spilling from Micheal Keaton’s belly and Winona Ryder’s lips getting stitched closed.
When the movie departs to the underworld, “Characters are rendered sliced in half or with innards exposed, sickly-colored or blue from asphyxiation or other ailments, with heads shrunken or simply skeletal,” per People. Some of the characters in the afterlife describe their gruesome deaths in detail.
Early critics reviews of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” are praising the sequel for its spooky, slimy, morbid humor.
“Tim Burton’s belated sequel to 1988′s weird, wild, and hilariously macabre Beetlejuice abounds in morbid, nauseating delights,” writes Slant Magazine.
“Suffice to say that nobody does death like Tim Burton, and it’s a pleasure to follow him back into the underworld,” writes The London Evening Standard. “You’ll leave the cinema and return to the world of the living with a spring in your step and a smile on your face.”
Michael Keaton will return to “Beetlejuice” as the titular character, Beetlejuice. Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara will also reprise their roles as Lydia and Delia Deetz.
Joining the cast of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” are Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s teenage daughter, Astrid, and Justin Theroux as a new character called Rory. Willem Dafoe, Danny DeVito and Monica Bellucci also joined the cast of the sequel.
The recently deceased couple in “Beetlejuice,” played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, will not be featured in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
“I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes. So even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else,” director Tim Burton told People of his decision not to include the couple in the sequel.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” comes out in theaters nationwide on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.