Nostalgia is the driving force behind so many recent film releases, with sequels, prequels, reboots and remakes of films we love from the past dominating theaters in recent years. Ghost Hunters Unpleasant Indiana Jones, Scream Unpleasant Spiderman, Vortex Unpleasant Death PoleIt feels like now more than ever we are desperate to rekindle the joy and laughter of pieces of popular culture past. Instead of just watching the original films, viewers are yearning to return to beloved characters and the unique worlds they inhabit, and wondering what they would look like now.

But these nostalgic retreads face a difficult challenge: they must attempt to capture the spirit of the original (which usually fails) or surpass it, while also adding something fresh and new. This can be surprisingly successful or spectacularly unsuccessful — unfortunately, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice falls into the latter category. While there are glimpses of the macabre comedy we know and love from director Tim Burton, much of the sequel to the 1988 classic feels like being on some kind of deranged merry-go-round; it spins around and around in partial storylines, visual slapstick, and limited character development without ever delving into its emotional core.

Beetle juice but make it girl power

One of the best aspects of the sequel is that it focuses on three generations of Deetz women. Winona Ryder, who starred in the original film, artfully translates Lydia Deetz’s brooding demeanor into middle age. Though she still sports her trademark choppy hair and long black clothes, her character has evolved into someone far more anxious and distant than the young woman we once knew. She’s popping pills and struggling to connect with her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Now a psychic, Lydia hosts a TV series and uses her gifts to communicate with the spirits she can see. But lately, she’s been plagued by disturbing visions of her teenage demon, Betelgeuse. Lydia has lost much of the fire she had as a teenager, causing her to be abused by her smooth producer boyfriend, played by Justin Theroux.

Lydia’s transition from photographer to television star feels a little unusual, given that she’s always been such a lonely, quiet presence. But people change, especially decades after they turn 16. It also allows for some cheeky meta-commentary, in which Astrid is irritated that she’s living in her mother’s shadow and wants to carve out her own story.

Read more: We’ve ranked every Tim Burton movie, now including Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceFrom worst to best

Jenna Ortega, with her brooding gaze, downturned mouth and wide eyes, looks like she was made in a Tim Burton factory. Just like her lead role in Burton’s series WednesdayJenna Ortega is the perfect match for a new generation of anxious Beetle juice oddballs. Like Lydia’s annoyance with stepmother Delia in the first film, Astrid resents her mother’s psychic abilities and showbiz profession. She idolizes her late father and fought for important causes like environmental activism.

This dynamic makes her an easy target for Jeremy, a Dostoevsky-loving teenager who is more than he first appears. This all sounds like fodder for interesting tension and sharply drawn characterization, but unlike previous Tim Burton films, which have a sentimentality as evocative as his imagery, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice relies heavily on exposition and rushed plot twists to move things along, making the stories feel rushed and shallow. We never stay with the characters long enough to care about who they are and how they feel. When Astrid ventures into the underworld and happens to run into her father, it leads to a family reunion that happens far too quickly to have any emotional impact.

Catherine O’Hara returns as the melodramatic Delia, who has transitioned from sculpture to multimedia art, making for hilarious moments, such as when she films herself trying to capture the perfect primal scream. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice cleverly bypasses actor Jeffrey Jones, who played Delia’s husband Charles in the original and whose career ended in a child pornography scandal, by using a stop-motion animation sequence to show how he died. The stop-motion sandworms from the original also return, retaining the cartoonish, old-school aesthetic of the 1988 film, though the CGI movements muddy the film’s visual language.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice nostalgia-joy

As the title character, Michael Keaton is appropriately ebullient and goofy, but he’s lost some of his edge. The film’s attempts at contemporary humor, which poke fun at the therapy-speak and the focus on healing trauma and tapping into your inner child, just don’t sting as much as the original’s stingers. Betelgeuse is involved in a plot involving a very underused Monica Bellucci as Delores, Betelgeuse’s ex-wife who’s part Morticia Addams, part Sally van A nightmare before Christmas with a stapled body. She looks sexy and menacing as she stalks him through the underworld, but otherwise has little to do. Her tired story is nothing more than a reason to reenact the wedding scene at the end of the original Beetle juice with Lydia’s blood-red dress.

Another new face is Willem Dafoe, who fits Tim Burton’s eccentric style perfectly as Wolf Jackson, an action movie star who approaches his duties as a police officer in the afterlife with all the campy enthusiasm he brings to his film roles. Oddly enough, I laughed more at Wolf than I did at Betelgeuse. Other jokes, like the painfully obvious, literal soul train and Astrid’s self-referential muttering of “I swear, the afterlife is so random,” also fell flat.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels more comfortable cramming in references to the first film than doing anything else. A children’s choir sings “Banana Boat (Day-O)” at Charles’ funeral; there’s no reason for it except to reference the infamous scene. I understand this is a fantasy comedy, but the sacrifice of storytelling for obvious nostalgia bait was too much.

There is another playback scene at the end of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (and how could he not?) But Tim Burton could never top the calypso bliss of the original, played to Harry Belefonte. Richard Harris’s lengthy “MacArthur Park” is a delightfully odd choice, but it also doesn’t feel earned, it’s just thrown in for another musical number.

I may have rose-colored glasses on for the original Beetle juicewhat I watched as a child, but later found myself watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice felt like going to an amusement park as an adult: the rides are worn out and clunky and you just want to get out. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is all flashing lights and bright colors, but little substance.

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