A Look Back At: Beetlejuice (1988)

Released in 1988, Beetlejuice is a comedy Directed by Tim Burton and stars Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder, and Micheal Keaton. Like many Burton films, this is a strange but fun watch. That being said, every time I see it I always seem to have similar thoughts by the time I reach the end credits. But first, let's take a quick look at the plot:

Barbara and Adam (played by Davis and Baldwin respectively) are spending their vacation decorating their country home but one day as the two are driving, Barbara swerves to avoid a dog and their car plunges into a river. After they return home, they discover a book titled 'Handbook for the Recently Deceased', and they then begin to realize that they did not survive the car accident.
Well, the house is soon sold to the Deetz family and that's where the films main conflict comes into play:

Delia Deetz and an interior designer named Otho transform the house into a bizarre modern-art project. Hating the changes to their home, Barbara and Adam consult the handbook, and soon learn that if they want the Deetzes out of the house, it is up to them to scare them away. Unfortunately for them, their attempts at scaring the Deetz family off prove to be ineffective as the only person who is able to see them is the Deetz's daughter Lydia. 

Desperate to get their house back, Barbara and Adam try to scare the Deetz's odd  but when that doesn't seem  work they seek out the help of a "bio-exorcist" ghost named Betelgeuse (played by Keaton), to get rid the Deetz family. At first, they are unaware that "Betelgeuse" is pronounced "Beetlejuice", and so they initially have trouble summoning him. But once they do the force of nature that is Micheal Keaton takes over the film as the crude troublemaker and, without spoiling the second half of the movie, I'll just say that it's a wild ride.

So, what are the conclusions I always seem to come to? Micheal Keaton is awesome, Geena Davis is solid, Winona Ryder is OK, and Alec Baldwin's performance is unimpressive. The plot is OK, some of the effects haven't aged well at all and not all of the comedy sticks the landing, but Danny Elfman's score, particularly the main theme, is great.

 Is it one of the all-time great movies? No, but overall it is fun and entertaining. I give it a 3 out of 5.


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