"Beetlejuice" was a weird comedy horror film, and a major commercial hit. It proved that the success of "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure" was not a fluke for director Tim Burton. It revived the then-struggling career of Michael Keaton, whose scene-stealing title character was perfectly cast. (Burton and Keaton would have their biggest hit the next year, with "Batman".)
Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) Maitland are a perfect but otherwise normal couple, living a quiet life of home improvement in a small town mansion. They die in a car accident, only to return as ghosts haunting their own house. They have nowhere else to go, as giant sandworms will eat them if they leave.
Worse yet, a new family is moving in, with plans to completely redecorate. Delia Deitz (Catherine O'Hara) is an affected socialite sculpture artist, Charles (Jeffrey Jones) is her henpecked, peace-loving husband, and their daughter is death-obsessed Lydia (Winona Ryder, at the time a relatively unknown actress). Unable to scare the Deitz family into leaving, the Maitlands turn for help first to jaded social worker Juno (Sylvia Sidney), then to talkative lunatic Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton).
Sidney, a film veteran whose career began during the silent era, plays a chain smoker who blows smoke through her slit throat. In the afterlife, you look like you did when you died (brings new meaning to the expression, 'leave a good-looking corpse'), and those who commit suicide are condemned to be social workers. Sidney died this past July, ironically of throat cancer.
As with most Burton films, the sets, costumes and music are very good. Danny Elfman, who has made eight films (so far) with Burton, is credited with the score. But it was the curious pantomimes to Harry Belafonte's "Day-O" that got all the attention. Three other decades-old Belafonte songs are also in the soundtrack.
Like most Burton films, one has to admit that "Beetlejuice" is original. It's also funny, but it relies more on sets than a structured story to deliver laughs. Sometimes the film is more strange than funny, as in the finale with Ryder dancing while levitating on a staircase, or the scene where Davis and Baldwin age into crumbling skeletons.
The film improves markedly whenever Keaton is around. He is physically unrecognizable behind the bizarre makeup and costumes, but his familiar manic behavior betrays his presence. With Baldwin, Davis and even Ryder having straight characters, it is up to Keaton and O'Hara to play the eccentrics. (59/100)
What s a couple of stay-at-home ghosts to do when their beloved home is taken over by trendy yuppies? They call on Beetlejuice, the afterlife s freela...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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