Review of Beetlejuice (1988) by Dawdlingpoet — 24 Nov 2021

This is one of Tim Burtons relatively early movies, I believe, dating from the mid-late 80s. The movie definitely has quite a dated feel to it although I did think that this added to its appeal somehow. There's no CGI here, instead its mainly puppets (animatronics?) used I think. There isn't much in the way of strong language or violence, its mainly got the 15 rating due to the 'gross out factor' I suppose, with the scenes where Adam and Barbara join other dead people and try to seek help and when they try their hand at haunting their houses new inhabitants, smulating hanging themselves etc., though it has limited success. This is where some of the humour comes from in a way, so you can already tell that this isn't a movie for everyone, however I quite like that it is a movie that isn't by any means trying to take itself seriously and I did quite enjoy the crudeness of it, I suppose you could say. I also found it amusing the use of quite lively music, the main track being 'Jump in the Line (Shake Señora)' by Harry Belafonte. The scenes featuring this track are likely to make fans of Burtons movies laugh, watching what happens at the dinner table to the family when Beetlejuice decides to have a bit of fun. So yes there is humour and there is a creepy element to it too, of course and I thought that overall it had quite a clear comic book feel to it, its not really an overly scary or threatening type movie, as long as your not a young child anyway, I think its clearly not for young children who would be scared by a few scenes, particularly when Adam and Barbaras faces are changed quite dramatically towards the end. It is quite an 'enthusiastic' movie I suppose you could say, one that shows that Tim Burton clearly has or had a vivid imagination and I liked the tone of the movie, it seemed at least fairly original and I thought it was an interesting concept. Going by memory I think there may have been a spin-off cartoon series for kids made based on the movie featuring the characters from it, which makes sense, I can see how that could work, though presumably Beetlejuice isn't quite as randy in the cartoon as he is in the movie! (whether or not ghosts can fancy ghosts of the other gender, I have no clue lol).

The character of Beetlejuice isn't featured as heavily as I presumed he would be in the movie but it still worked quite well, I feel. The title of the movie may be a little misleading for some I suppose though, since the main character isn't really Beetlejuice himself, although he provides the main entertainment and the quirkiness I suppose, the main characters are of course Adam and Barbara and then Lydia. However, the scenes with Beetlejuice are pretty hyperactive and engrossing, so its worth sticking with the movie for that.

The character of Lydia reminded me of the Adams' Family character of Wednesday, infact I suppose you could compare the movie to one of the Adams' Family movies in a sense, with the rather quirky house and the disfunctional family, Beetlejuice could be seen as a kind of an amalgm or combination of Gomez (in terms of a certain kind of sexual charm or so he'd think he has) and Uncle Fester (in terms of creepiness, really!).

Overall, quirky and darkly amusing are the words I think that best describe this movie. It is quite an interesting movie and I found it pretty entertaining, its not a particularly scary movie as such but I wouldn't recommend letting any children watch it all the same, still if this is your sort of thing then you should definitely check it out.

Yes I would, as I say above. It felt fairly original and was entertaining and kind of amusing in parts. The plot concept was interesting and it is quite lively in parts too, though if im to be picky then I could criticise it for being a little bland mid way through the movie, before they went to seek help and discover their 'case worker' and before the title character appeared. It does have a somewhat dated feel to it but it doesn't take away from its appeal and I still found it quite entertaining overall, hence why I'd recommend it. Of course, not everyone likes Tim Burton movies and if your not one for this sort of thing then obviously, give this a miss but otherwise its worth a watch.