User reviews

It may take two or three viewings to warm up to "Beetlejuice". It has a kooky, cockeyed sensibility and a rhythm that is by turns easy, lazy and frenetic. A charming couple in New England die and come back to their beloved home as ghosts, determined to rid the place of the horrendous new tenants. Possibly the most benign and engaging performance ever by Alec Baldwin; Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and Sylvia Sidney are also very appealing. The new couple from New York who take over the house (Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O'Hara) aren't as well written or thought-out as the other characters and some of their bemused, dry-ice comic lines take a few seconds to reach you. Of course, there's Michael Keaton, wildly comic as Betelgeuse. I recall hearing comments back in 1988 that Keaton wasn't around enough to make the picture worthwhile, but that's only if you watch the film for the fast quips and sight-gags. Keaton is truly wonderful, but he's also bombastic, and I felt there was just enough of him to satisfy--it's really not his story anyway, it belongs to Baldwin and Davis; Betelgeuse is used as a horny, vulgar punchline. Director Tim Burton is very careful not to overload the movie with raunch; he is surprisingly careful in setting up this story, and he works magic within a dubious scenario: a comic fantasy about dead folks which ultimately celebrates life. ***1/2 from ****

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.

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!

Tim Burton's Beetlejuice is a great film. The director was given free reign to make his own film visually and it is great. The casting is good, but the standout is Michael Keaton. Keaton is absolutely hilarious in the title role. This movie is very funny and well done.

I enjoyed watching the movie throughout, and it is really fun. The story is pretty great with a ghost couple wanting to keep their house the same while trying to scare off the new inhabitants of it. It builds up really well with their deaths, them learning about the afterlife, and meeting with Beetlejuice. I like the creative on the afterlife with the desert-like landscape, the waiting room for the ghost, and the visual of the movie. The movie has a charm to it with its presentation and how it tells the story. I also do think the relationship between the characters are pretty good on how they connected with each other and how it effects the plot. It is also entertaining to watch Beetlejuice being a maniac on how he acts and the stuff he does throughout the movie. I have to be honest that I didn't laugh at any humor in this movie because it is not my type of it, but the movie is still entertaining throughout. I found the characters to be pretty great in this movie, and the performance was amazing, too, like Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine o' Hara. I found the special effects to be really great in this movie. The makeup effects for the ghost look amazing on how much work they put onto them and how creative they can get with each of the ghosts you see throughout the movie. I also like the set designed when the ghost couple enter into a different place with is both creative and memorable to see it. There are other great practical effects in it, like the sandworm creature and the Beetlejuice snake like creature.

Beetlejuice is an entertaining horror comedy movie that I have fun watching and is highly recommended.

What can I say... Michael Keaton is great at everything he does and the visuals of this film are fantastic. Even 3 decades later they still look great. I really hope they can bring the same level of energy and weirdness for the sequel.

This is a classic example of Tim Burton's macabre humor and fantastic mind. Beetlejuice puts you into a world where both the "Living and the Dead" come together. The Maitland's (Baldwin and Davis) are a happy married couple living in a sleepy Conneticut town and who are getting nestled in for their vacation together at home. The peace and quiet comes to a tragic end when they meet their deaths in a car accident. Now as ghosts, they witness their beloved home being taken over buy New York yuppies and make an unlikely alliance with the families daughter (Ryder). To make sense of what to do in the after life, the Maitland's look to seek the aid of Beetlejuice! The "Ghost with the Most". From there, everything turns into a hilarious and horrific adventure where Micheal Keaton shines with his comedic talents. This movie is a must for any horror and comedy fan, and a no brainier for Tim Burton fans out there.

Cheesy, creepy, a little gross and funny. I have seen this movie several times over the years and find it entertaining to watch each time. It has that cheese factor that Burton movies tend to posses but in a charming way. I guess it doesn't hurt that this movie brings me back to my childhood and holds a high level of nostalgia.

One of my favorite 80's movies.

Beetlejuice is the movie that marked Tim Burton as a director to watch. It allowed Michael Keaton to freewheel his comedy chops at a higher level.

The combination of Burton, Keaton, composer Danny Elfman, the production design and animation in this movie convinced Warner Brothers that this was the right team for Batman.

Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) live in their dream house until they one day die in a freak car accident.

When they come back to their home they find out that they are dead and have been for some time. Their house is now occupied by another family who plan to bring big changes to it.

The Maitlands are unable to scare the family away. Only Goth daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) sees them and understand their predicament.

They then bring in a bio-exorcist ghost Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) who runs amok. Now the Maitlands have to rein him in.

For Hollywood, Beetlejuice is bizarre, freaky and surreal. It has a manic and pervy performance from Keaton. He is very much a supporting character here as the villain in this creepy comedy.

Burton plays homage to other horror films, he brings in veteran Sylvia Sidney as the afterlife spiritual guide who knows all about the chaos Betelgeuse could unleash. The afterlife as a civil service bureaucracy seems to be inspired from Powell and Pressburger.

The special effects might have now aged, a lot of it was stop motion animation. The dark inventiveness of the movie still stands up.

Admittedly, a lot of this movie went over head when I was a kid. But revisiting it as an adult made me see it for what it is, a creative film full of great characters, a wild perspective on life and death, and perfect gallows humor. Michael Keaton of course steals every scene he's in, and that's saying something when you look at the cast. Therehasnt been a movie quite like this one before or since.

Beetlejuice is a different family movie, that requires a pretty much grown up family or those ones that are into horror films. Its quick, its unique and above all its hilarious and lovable as hell!

Tim Burton's stop motion is extraordinary yet again (surprising no-one) and the overall performances are from pretty good to great! The Sylvia Sidney cameos are probably the best parts of the movie. She has by far the best lines. Also, Michael Keaton is great, but Alec Baldwin and young Winona Ryder have a more normal role and managed to be memorable as well!

Mixing elements of Gothic horror and comedy can be a tricky stunt to pull off. Director Tim Burton however, manages to do just that in more than ways one. And if you know the director well enough, you'd know that resorting to usual Hollywood conventions isn't part of his norm. We are talking about a director takes his quirky vision and places it full-throttle to create an entertaining horror-comedy feast that supplements both laughs and scares. His vision is what makes this quirky, yet effectively engaging Gothic horror piece work. Imagine a world where Michael Keaton played a goofy green- haired lunatic that made The Joker look like a cute little snuggle doll by comparison. This concept is brought to life in this infectiously bizarre comedy- horror salad that see Burton exercising his signature style to full extent, pushing the boundaries of youngsters' dark imaginations, but not without having his tongue in his cheek. This film follows Adam (played by Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (played by Geena Davis), a married couple who are driving on a bridge when they swerve off-course while dodging a poor little dog. When the fall ends up killing them, they wake up in the afterlife where their house is being a sold by a family consisting couple Charles and Delia Deetz (played by Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O'Hara respectively) and their emo teen daughter Lydia (played by Winona Ryder). Since they (Adam and Barbara) are ghosts, Charles and Deila can't see or hear them. However, it is Lydia who has the mysterious ability to communicate with them. In an effort they scare the family out of there house, the couple must cross paths with an erratic, fast-talking clown only known as Beetlejuice (played by Michael Keaton). It is only too bad that the clown has a more devious plan they do more harm than good.

Wacky and peculiar are the most suitable words to describe what kind of ride you are in for. But as this is Tim Burton, bizarre is what most people should expect. This features Michael Keaton in a role that defies against the usual good guy tapestry that he would resort to later on his career. Keaton exercises the role of the quirky clown-being with appropriate over-the-topness and macabre-type comedic energy that lends plenty of humor to leave audiences snickering beneath the dark Gothic nature of his character and the film itself. The movie has moments of laughter, but most certainly not in the way that will leave you busting your gut with guffaws. After all, it is dark humor that defines the underlining comedic tone while the spooky imagery triumphs over the absurd wackiness. To be more specific, the vast portion of the imagery lies within the world of the afterlife where Adam and Barbara encounter deceased victims who have faced very unpleasant deaths such as a man who has been burnt to meat, an elderly lady who smokes and exhales through the slit in her throat, a headless man, and a later sequence when one of the characters is tasked to pop her eyes out of her skull. And yet this film somehow managed to pass with a PG-rating in an era that introduced the PG-13 rating by the release of the war film 'Red Dawn', not to mention that Keaton also drops an F-bomb in one scene. Nonetheless, Tim Burton brings an expert hand at keeping things moving, and Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis sell themselves in their roles just fine. If there is any detriment to Burton's vision, it is, of course, time as the special effects he incorporates some sequences such as the lead couple being chased by a giant sandworm has grown hideously outdated. And the musical number at the end feels somewhat out of place. But whether Burton is trying to frighten us with his nightmarish imagery or amuse us with the quirky nature of the characters, particularly the eponymous character, he is always inviting us in for the laughs.

Beetlejuice is an entertaining piece that mixes comedy and horror in an eccentric fashion that truly works. With all grotesqueness that showers the film, some may question whether it makes for an appropriate children's movie. For my answer, probably not without parental guidance unless the youngsters who dare to watch this are immune to nightmares induced from Tim Burton's campy visual imagery. But with the macabre humor injected into the film's veins, there is enough camp to make for a nice treat for both adults and preteen children alike.

This is one of the most imaginative, creative and unusual movies I've ever seen. Yes, even for Burton. I mean, the man is a cornucopia of ideas. I'm not sure what I expected this to be like, but I could easily not have gotten it right even if I had countless guesses. The plot is marvelous, and develops nicely, always retaining interest. The pacing is spot-on. I never really wanted this to end, and it somehow both left me satisfied and hungry for more of the same. The characters are magnificent. The "feel" of one of his productions is definitely there, and without it seeming too much like one of his others. The acting is great. The music, both Elfman's scoring and in general, all excellent. The humor varies, and I, personally, did not find everything funny, but quite a bit of the material that worked had me laughing an awful lot. The visuals, as we know they will be, when Tim is helming it, are invariably well-done. The effects are perhaps outdated today, but they still work and do so well. And honestly, as I watched this, I was far too entertained to care if I could tell how they did this or that. The dialog is well-written, with several clever lines. The designs are rich. The details... wow. There are some grotesque images in this, a little language, moderate and strong, and a suggestive thing or two. The DVD features a theatrical trailer and a music-only track. I recommend this warmly to any fan of Tim Burton and his style. 8/10

A Great Idea, Good Script, and Wonderful Cast. What more do you need?

Answer - TIM BURTON

He successfully creates a fantasy world for the living and the dead to share as only he can. This combined with solid performances from the entire cast and of Course Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, you know your on to a winner.

Keaton Brings Beetlejuice to life in this hilarious comedy, as he is called upon to help some ghosts excorisise the living from their home, with unpredicted results.

This movie quite simply gets funnier every time you see it, and there is literally nothing else like it, that i have seen.

Terrific 8/10

With absolute certainty, Beetlejuice is the best film that Tim Burton has ever given us, and we appreciate that. They say original is always the best, and Beetlejuice is a timeless classic of gore and lore. It's funny, scary, dramatic and you can't help but sing along and feel nostalgic watching the film nearly 40 years later. And it's hard to believe it's been that long!

Everyone in this film was so young in 1988. Michael Keaton, who played Beetlejuice himself, had already been around and in various movies by the time he was cast. Geena Davis was a rising star and overshadowed Alec Baldwin, which would never happen today. Winona Ryder is still around. So is Catherine O'Hara, but she's a Tim Burton favorite and also well known as Kevin McAllister's mother from the Home Alone films. Of course, Jeffrey Jones has become infamous for reasons of his own undoing and no one speaks his name, he's essentially the Voldemort of Hollywood.

Anyway, Beetlejuice was and still is a huge success. It was so popular into the early 1990s that an animated series was created for children, much like the Real Ghostbusters. There were rumors and talk of a sequel ever since this film was released in 1988, but nothing ever came to fruition until the early 2020s, then it became serious. Even Michael Keaton was up for a sequel and by the time a sequel was greenlit, he was in his early seventies.

"Beetlejuice" is a great artistic vision with a hilariously bizarre premise. The entire movie is so original. Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, and Jeffrey Jones play very well in scenes that are like nothing you've seen before. Keaton shines as the title character and his physical humor(along with great special effects and costumes)kept me laughing the whole movie. This was the initial movie that opened the door to Burton's world which is dark and fascinating. A great movie experience with very funny scenes. RATING: ***

Some people regard Beetle Juice as a horror movie. This is actually not true -- it would be true if Wes Craven directed it, as planned -- but it isn't.

Burton, Rider and Keaton proof immediately to be a great team, and the jokes, especially the handbook for the recently deceased-gag. The personalities, art direction and music are great, and fit exactly in the movie. It gives a very original view to what happens in the afterlife, and it contains very original material, and very original stuff.

I give it a 9/10.

I must have watched some "afternoon session" of life ... What a cutie, Geena Davis, a love, a super fun movie ... Very cute, I loved the effects, nice and captivating, the dead are cute, hilarious, the simple jokes and cute, delicate even for family watching... I already want that model, adorable movie...

A wacky Tim Burton at a time when his muse Johnny Depp was still the thug-arresting hearthrob of "21 Jump Street", a sweet Geena Davis, a boyish Alec Baldwin and practical Gremlins-like special effects... well, if "Beetlejuice" doesn't scream 80s, I don't know what it does. This is a little gem of horror mixed with comedy that might delight every member of the family though I suspect kids who've grown up after the 2000s might find the film a bit too silly and childish... a complain they'd share with eminent critics of that era such as Ebert and Siskel. Both deplored that the titular character brought too much obnoxiousness to an already loaded story and they got rapidly tired of his antics, but didn't they think the same of "Ace Ventura"?

I think "Beetlejuice" is a film that might disorient the first-time viewer because of its constant swinging between fantasy and horror and naughty comedy, but I suspect this is the kind of experience that grows on you if you give it a chance. Michael Keaton as "Beetlejuice" might be a tad too prankish and annoying but thankfully he only appears midway through the film and meanwhile, the main characters had already won our hearts. I agree that the relationship between Baldwin and Davis brings a certain sweetness to the film sometimes at the expenses of the plot. I couldn't really accept that such lovely persons would indulge to scare the new occupants on their residence just because of some disturbance... especially since they aren't played by the least likable actors either.

Jeffrey Jones aka Emperor Joseph aka Ferris' archenemy Rooney is a serene father who wants to contemplate birds and enjoy his nest of serenity, Catherine O'Hara, aka Kevin's mom is the lady of the house eccentric sculptor who won't have any intruders disrupt her oasis of artistic creativity and finally, Winona Ryder is the emo malcontent adolescent who grows an interest on the former residents, if not a liking.

In fact, if we except the nasty decorator Otho, the character who comes the closest to an antagonist is Beetlejuice himself, though his main purpose is to get the house rid of the family by operating let's say an exorcism from the other side. The premise is interesting but the film is filled with so many enchanting special effects and funny scenes that a new character popping up near the end wasn't a necessity. As hard as it is to imagine the film without Beetlejuice, it's funny that the film's most memorable moments don't feature him. But I won't get too nitpicky, Keaton is obviously playing a career-defining role and I suspect if it wasn't for his performance, he might not have caught the attention of Burton for his next project (a clue: it's another special effect movie with a one-word title starting with "B").

Keaton is certainly as wacky and crazy as his cartoon adaptation but his performance is too straight-forward and doesn't call for subtlety, a pity for a film that contains so many inspiring moments such as the afterlife bureaucracy and the memorable case-worker played by a chain-smoking and scene-stealing Sylvia Sidney.

At the peak of its creativity, "Beetlejuice" is a fantastic and spectacular fantasy entertainment filled with hilarious moments: a great twist at the end of the opening credits, a hilarious choregraphy with the "Banana-Boat Song" and a funny waiting room sequence involving a silly-looking creature with a shrunk head. The film won an Oscar for Best Make-up but oddly enough, it didn't garner any Golden Globe nomination for Best Comedic Actor to Keaton. I must admit his performance never really bothered me except for one moment that carried a lot of gravitas (when the couple's ghosts started to age and their bodies turning into skeletons), the scene hit a really sensitive chord and it did so well that I really wanted someone to get rid of Beetlejuice instead of the humans. For that scene in particular I would agree with Ebert's criticism.

But with some perspective, "Beetlejuice" is a fun product of its time, with a right balance of humor (mostly visual), heart and special effects, and these aspects work so much that the cynicism brought by the titular character might feel like the real intrusion. There are moments where the house looks overcrowded and the humor overdone but "Beetlejuice" is still one of these little classics of the 80s, and time did justice to the little films of that glorious and extravagant decade.

Before Michael Keaton was Batman or Birdman he was the ghost with the most. So is this the best haunted house movie ever? Well if you like the strange and unusual with your spooks than this is for you. One of Tim Burton's best, prior to putting Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp in everyone of his films. Great score and practical effects bring even more to the table. Honestly not sure how this got a PG rating...because it has one of the best F-Bombs ever. Seriously. EVER.

It's only his second movie, and yet it is obvious Beetle Juice is pure, unmistakable Tim Burton: macabre, darkly comic and crammed with weirdos, not least Michael Keaton's career-best performance as the perverted titular "bio-exorcist".

But what does a creature like that actually do? Well, it depends on who requires his services: in the case of Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis), a recently deceased married couple, he is supposed to get rid of the "terrible people" (Jeffrey Jones and Helen O' Hara) who have taken over their house. As his employers will soon discover, though, Beetlejuice doesn't exactly play by the rules and has an agenda of his own, a fact that could cause more damage than expected. Unless the new owner's daughter, the death-obsessed Lydia (Winona Ryder), finds a way to stop him, that is.

Burton was famously accused for favoring style over content in his two Batman films (fair assessment, but they're still awesome), something that can't be said of this black comedy: the visual element may be incredibly strong, especially in the fantasy sequences, but the director never loses track of the wonderfully witty script, taking the audience with him on a trip that, similarly to his later work Corpse Bride, paints a merrier portrait of the afterlife than we are used to imagine, albeit with the occasional grotesque scenarios and people.

Oddly enough, the extravagant imagery is also where the film shows its biggest limit, as some of the special effects have dated quite badly, most notably a stop-motion animated snake that attacks Adam and Barbara in an early nightmare scene. Such shortcomings, however, are compensated by the consistent twisted humor and a committed cast: Baldwin and Davis are amusing in roles few people would imagine them playing, Burton-regular Jones is a reliable source of laughs and Ryder's "troubled" teenager (not like her Heathers character, though) is a neat and charming counterpoint to her heartbreaking turn in Edward Scissorhands, also directed by Burton. But it is the underused Keaton (about 18 minutes of screen time in an almost two-hour long movie) who deserves the hot spot in the audience's memory: he is twitchy, rude, dirty and VERY naughty - nearly too much for a PG feature. And if that isn't enough, consider this: Burton wanted him and no one else to play Batman because of his work in this picture, and the result was the finest celluloid Dark Knight until Christian Bale took over the suit. That's gotta mean something, right?

Tim Burton certainly has the most unusual way of bringing his films across. Either that is his artistic style or he has to based on the screenplays he chooses to direct. Either way, he does an outstanding job and this film really enhances what talent he possesses. Burton certainly is known for his weird visions of what he puts on screen. Beetlejuice also stands out by the performance by the main stars like Alec Baldwin in a breakout performance that launched his film career, and Geena Davis for her charming feminine characteristic. But the one that stands out the most is Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse. In a masterful portrayal and brilliantly acted despite being underneath all that make-up and costume. This is a true tour-De-force for Keaton with his best performance of his monumental career. The negatives I have for it is the story is not well understood at least for me. And the other performers didn't deliver all that much. Ryder was good, Jeffrey Jones was good in a Ferris Bueller-type role which fits him well. But O'Hara was a little flat, and certainly saw someone else playing that character. Everyone else was eh, OK I guess. But other then that this film is a work of art by a real artistic genius known as Tim Burton. Now to grade. Acting: B+ Visual Effect: A Directing: B Music: B Costume Design: A Make-Up: A- Overall: B+