[MOVIE REVIEW] Beetlejuice (1988)

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Title: Beetlejuice

Starring:  Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton

Genre: Horror / Comedy / Adventure

Company:   Warner Bros. / Geffen Company

Directed by: Tim Burton

Year: 1988

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG 

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Best Buy  //  Blu-Ray.com

 

When Adam and Barbara Maitland, a couple who desperately wanted a child and are living in a peaceful old house,  ended up getting killed in a car accident, they turn into ghosts and they start learning about the ups and downs of being dead.  For one thing, after the couple dies, their old house ended up being sold to an eccentric family called the Deetz family, who consisted of Delia Deetz, who is a trendsetter that wants to promote her (horrific) artwork to the world, Charles Deetz, Delia's husband who just wants to settle down at the house and their daughter Lydia Deetz, who is always shown to be moping around the house (and seems to possess an uncanny ability to see ghosts)!  When the Maitlands see what the Deetz family is doing to their old house, they decided to try and scare them out of the house.  But unfortunately, the Deetz family prove to be difficult to scare since they can't really see the Maitlands and the Maitlands are not very good at scaring people due to them being new to all of this.  The Maitlands then became so desperate to get the Deetz out of their house that they decided to call upon a shady ghost named Beetlejuice to scare them, despite the warnings that Juno gives them about how it would be a bad idea to summon Beetlejuice.  Once Beetlejuice is let loose, both the Maitlands the Deetz family will soon realize just how scary (and hilarious) Beetlejuice can really be!

 I have enjoyed many of Tim Burton's films, but out of all of the films he had created, I have to say that "Beetlejuice" is certainly one of the most creative and unusual films directed by Tim Burton!  I really enjoyed the strange, frightening and hilarious atmosphere of this movie as it gives the movie an extremely unique feel (I mean, what other horror comedies have you seen that managed to blend horror and comedy into one film so well)?  I really enjoyed the story line about the Maitlands trying to scare the Deetz family away, but they only ended up making the Deetz family stay around longer due to the Deetz family being way too eccentric for your average family.  I also enjoyed the relationship shared between Lydia and the Maitlands as it shows that the Maitlands do truly care about Lydia and her well being and Lydia is able to find someone who has the same interests as she does.  But, probably the best part about this movie was Beetlejuice himself as he brings both humor and horror to the entire movie and Michael Keaton's portrayal of the shady ghost was truly memorable to see!  I also enjoyed all of the performances in this film, especially by Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, Geena Davis as Barbara Maitland and Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz as they all seem to have a fun time with their roles and made the movie extremely fun to watch!

The only problem I had with this movie was that there were many scenes where I was a bit confused about what was going on since this movie seems to move through certain events pretty quickly.  Also, I have to wonder why the movie was called "Beetlejuice" when he only appeared in like 10-15 minutes of the entire film (although I personally think this made his character even more interesting as we don't really know what he's capable of until the final moments of the film).

Overall, "Beetlejuice' is a fantastic film that you can watch over and over again during Halloween or any time and is easily one of Tim Burton's most creative and unique films ever created!

• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Coraline
• Corpse Bride