Beetlejuice is my favorite Tim Burton movie and it seems to get better every time I see it. I watched it on Wednesday and found a lot of little gems in it that I had either forgotten about or never noticed before. If you want to avoid major spoilers, then I suggest avoiding this review or skipping to the final paragraph.
The movie stars Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as Adam and Barbara Maitland, a young couple taking some time off from running their hardware store to work on their house and enjoy each other’s company. On their way home, they swerve to avoid hitting a dog and are killed when their car falls into the river. It takes them a bit to realize they’re dead, but after noticing that they have no reflections in the mirror, can’t recall how they got back home, and get stuck in a large desert-like environment with strange creatures whenever they step foot outside the house, they accept their fate and try to figure out what to do about it.
While they try to navigate the strange, bureaucratic afterlife with the help of a caseworker named Juno and their Handbook for the Recently Deceased, they are distressed to see a family called the Deetzes move in and transform their house into something totally bizarre. The only living person who can see the Maitlands is the Deetz’s goth daughter, Lydia (played by Winona Ryder). Desperate to scare the Deetzes away and have the house to themselves again, the Maitlands give it their best before turning to a ghost named Betelgeuse (played by Michael Keaton) for help. When he proves to be more trouble than he’s worth, the Maitlands team up with Lydia and try to stop him and his crazy antics.
Like other Burton movies, Beetlejuice has a visual style that’s incredibly strange, twisted, and creative. A combination of practical effects, stop motion, and special effects, alongside highly intricate set pieces, gives this movie a highly recognizable and distinctive look. It also has a wacky sense of humor, which is probably the main reason I like it so much. To me, Beetlejuice is a fun, goofy movie with great characters and I always enjoy watching it, and I look forward to watching it again soon.