Movies
Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ doesn’t fall into the same traps that a lot of other sequels do. It still has a terrible musical sequence.
Sometimes, it feels like it’s California state law that all Hollywood movies must be sequels or reboots. Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn’t fall into the same traps that a lot of other sequels do, but it still has a terrible musical sequence that feels like it was forced into the movie by the studio. Some jokes only work once.
The ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ trailer reuses a joke from the 1st movie
Perhaps the most famous sequence in the original Beetlejuice is when unseen forces make the main characters dance to Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” It’s bizarre, amusing, and unexpected. In other words, it’s Burton at his best — it’s the sort of Gothic joke you didn’t know you wanted to hear.
Many viewers (particularly younger ones) are only familiar with “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” through its appearance in Beetlejuice. It would be obvious to reuse the song in a sequel. Sadly, Burton went the obvious route.
The trailer for ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ was sold on the song
In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a children’s choir sings “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” at the funeral of Charles Deetz, a character from the first film. This is supposed to be funny because people usually don’t sing calypso songs about bananas at funerals, and it’s also supposed to be funny because we remember the song from the first movie.
Except that this isn’t funny at all. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice mostly resists the urge to regurgitate the first film, instead giving us lots of new characters and incorporating songs you wouldn’t expect in a Gothic horror comedy. However, the use of “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” is groan-worthy in its laziness. Even worse, the scene goes on a little too long for its own good, and the arrangement of “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” is agonizingly slow. This joke should not have been in the trailer.
Why the song was in the original ‘Beetlejuice’
During a 2018 interview with Pitchfork, screenwriter Larry Wilson discussed recalled why “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” appeared in the original Beetlejuice. “[Screenwriter Michael] McDowell and I had come up with a dinner party where one of the guests spilled a glass of wine on an ornate rug with a floral design,” Wilson said. “The rug sprouted vines that wrapped up all the guests. A good idea, but it needed more.”
Ultimately, cast member Catherine O’Hara said that the sequence would be funnier if it incorporated calypso music. Co-star Jeffrey Jones suggested “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” a song he remembered from his youth. Belafonte said that Burton called him up and asked him to use “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” “I never had a request like that before,” he said. “We talked briefly. I liked the idea of Beetlejuice. I liked him. And I agreed to do it.”
Belafonte discussed the response to Beetlejuice. “Everywhere I went, for about a year, I had kids all over me: ‘Oh! The guy from Beetlejuice!’” Belafonte said. “Wiping their hands full of tomato ketchup and mustard on my clothes. I never worked for such a young audience. And I enjoyed the whole excursion.”
“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” doesn’t belong in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — but at least Belafonte was glad his song appeared in the first film.
