Beetlejuice

This movie always was: 1 - very popular; 2 - very different; 3 - very entertaining; 4 - a very fast-moving hour-and-a-half of a film.

Several characters in here - mainly Michael Keaton's unique and sometimes- revolting title character "Beetlejuice"- are always fascinating to watch. With him - and the whole movie - you also get a lot of humor and scary special-effects..

It was odd to see Alec Baldwin in such a low-key role. In the '90s, he played very few of these type of guys. Davis looks and acts like...well, Davis, who has almost always played nice, cute people that viewers like. It took me four viewings before I finally appreciated Catharine O'Hara's comedic talents in this movie. Now, she's my favorite and someone I find absolutely hilarious as the messed-up wife/mother of a family who moves into a "haunted house" inhabited by Baldwin and Davis.

Keaton made himself a name as an actor with this whacked-out Robin Williams-type role, although he never really followed up with anything that was as popular as this film. Winona Rider is cute as the teenage daughter and we get other fun supporting roles from diverse people as talk show host Dick Cavett, singer Robert Goulet and actor Jeffrey Jones. All of them are good.

Tim Burton directed the film and so I wasn't surprised there were the typical occult themes with ghosts and the like, and no heaven or hell but some other strange existence being touted where dead people go....a ridiculous picture of the afterlife. However, I just chalk it up to someone just trying to make a fun, entertaining picture and on that, it succeeds.

Overall, a unique and entertaining film. It's different, to say the least!

This is a great movie to simply watch and enjoy--no need to think or analyze--just enjoy the silliness and cool factor of this nice film.

A young couple living in their dream house (Alec Baldwin and Gina Davis) are accidentally killed and thereafter live as ghosts in the home. Some time later, a family of freaks (Jeffery Jones, Catherine O'Hara) and their disaffected daughter (Winona Ryder) move in--much to the ghosts' chagrin. That's because instead of respecting the lovely home's charms, the parents want to turn it into a pseudo-intellectual freak house. However, Winona somehow is able to see and communicate with the ghosts--but her parents can't believe that they exist or that they're doing anything wrong with the house.

The dead couple try to scare away the family, but their attempts are really lame (and funny) and this only makes the weirdos want to stay even more! So, out of desperation, they seek out the most evil and obnoxious ghost, Beetle Juice (Michael Keaton) to help. The problem is that although Beetle Juice is able to scare anyone, he's also a total maniac and once let out, he's amazingly difficult to stop.

The film abounds with many things you'd expect to see in a Tim Burton directed film--weird special effects, an odd set design (after the weirdos transform the house), fun and a definite "cool factor". The actors do a fine job as well. Additionally, the script is smart and fun. While some might find this too dark a film for young kids, for older kids and adults, it's mighty entertaining and silly. Plus the music is just so darn infectious and fun!

Considering he's not in the film that much and the film is named after his character he steals the whole show when he appears front and centre. He is so good you're amazed by him I wouldn't be surprised if Jim Carrey didnt use Michael Keaton's performance as Beetlejuice as a template for his fantastical cartoon character Stanley Ipkiss in the The Mask. Love the B Movie special fx and the Shake Senora dance scene. Little peave though was Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice dilemma. Wish they explained it a bit better thought I was having a dyslexic turn kept checking after all these years in was reading the name of the film wrong, kept stopping the film to check the title. The only downfall. All in all funny and out there film. I'd just watch it for Keaton's performance.

Watching this one more time on TV yesterday reminded me of the first time I saw it all those years ago at the movies when Tim Burton was just the guy who had directed that funny Pee-wee Herman movie. Walking into 'Beetlejuice' then, without knowing anything about it, was an amazing experience. Along with 'Blade Runner', 'Blue Velvet', 'Videodrome', 'Brazil', 'Paris, Texas', 'The Terminator' and 'Repo Man' it was one of the most astonishing and memorable movies of the 1980s, an era dominated by Hollywood dreck like 'Flashdance', 'Top Gun', and 'Footloose'. The whole Bruckheimer/Simpson/Spielberg/Hughes zeitgeist that dumbed down popular movies as never before. Movies like 'Beetlejuice' were a glimmer of hope in a truly awful period.

The big question is - how does it stand up today? The answer is better than ever! In fact I would argue that 'Beetlejuice' is Tim Burton's most successful and least compromised film. Everything about it is perfect. A great cast lead by the very appealing and likable Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as the newly dead Maitlands, a star turn by Michael Keaton as the gonzo "bio-exorcist" title character, and strong support from Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, and especially Winona Ryder (a performance that really put her on the map), as the new occupants of the Maitlands house. 'Beetlejuice' juggles gruesome, trippy and genuinely witty sequences, and ends up becoming one of the freshest and surreal movies to find a mainstream audience since the heyday of 60s/70s "head" movies. Forget Burton's more recent hit and miss big budget efforts, and try this for the real deal, Luis Bunuel meets Tex Avery meets George Romero, and then some! 'Beetlejuice' is a blast!

This is by far Michael Keaton's best performance. Every time he comes on the screen he displays such an eccentric performance that it rivals Jim Carrey from 'The Mask', only without as much help from computers. If his role calls for gross he brings revolting; pushy he brings offensive; witty he brings hilarious sarcasm. One of my few complaints is that he doesn't get enough screen time, although he does have a large portion of it, most goes to Gena Davis and Alec Baldwin.

Tim Burton's directing is great. My favorite scene by far doesn't even have Michael Keaton in it. Anyone who has seen this will remember it as the dancing dinner scene.

This is a classic. If you haven't seen it then you must've'e grown up under a rock or born before I was.