Rent Beetlejuice on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Michael McDowell & Larry Wilson (story), Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren (screenplay)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and they hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.
Verdict
I really like the concept. Instead of humans trying to rid themselves of ghosts, ghosts have unwanted human visitors. This is certainly a strange movie that seems more like a B movie with a large budget. Unfortunately the concept is better than the product. This hints at world building with this undead world of bureaucracy, but the movie does very little to expand it other than a few gags.
You almost need to see this just for the pop culture references to the character of Betelgeuse, but the titular character isn't in the movie for very long.
It depends.
Review
I saw this, I'm sure multiple times, as a kid. Granted, it's been thirty years, but this is not as good as I remember. I think the idea is great. With so many movies about humans trying to remove ghosts from a haunted house, a movie about ghosts that want to remove humans from their home is a great twist on the concept.
The characters are either flat or campy. Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) is certainly something as the crude bio-exorcist. It's amazing that Keaton did this and Batman (1989) so close together. I wonder if an actor has done such disparate roles in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, Betelgeuse appears on screen for less than fifteen minutes.
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| Michael Keaton plays Betelgeuse |
It's a weird movie and I wonder how this became so popular. Betelgeuse is a fun character and Keaton is great in the role, but Burton has stated he purposely wanted a B movie with fake looking effects. That's certainly apparent with stop motion animation, green screen scenes, and sand worms, but it's an odd contrast with the rest of the movie that appears to have a decent budget. I wondered if this movie was part of Burton's deal for Batman, but Burton got Batman due to his Pee-Wee movie, and got Beetlejuice due to the success of Batman. The original script was much darker, though it shouldn't be a surprise that a script like this had a few re-writes.
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| Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis play Adam, Barbara Maitland |
The Maitlands (Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis) attempt to scare out the family that moves in, though this results in the Deetz family happy about an wanting to capitalize on the haunting. Everything is backwards in this movie, from the premise to how humans react to ghosts. It's not clear how this world works because it's only here to serve the plot. I can accept the Maitlands as ghosts that can't leave their home, but the undead caseworker and related afterlife items serve as gags and just raise more questions.
It's a neat idea, but I remember this being better and Betelgeuse being more prominent. This concludes rather quickly, and what we get is less than satisfying as it makes big leaps in what logic is established. A movie that focuses more on Betelgeuse would certainly help as one he's entertaining and two it would provide insight into this world. You need to see this just for the pop culture references to Beetlejuice, though I expect you'd be disappointed.
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