Beetlejuice

I don’t think I need to spend any time on how amazing Tim Burton is as a visionary director – EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, BATMAN, BATMAN RETURNS, BIG FISH, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE, ED WOOD, SWEENEY TODD. And now I hear he’s recreating FRANKENWEENIE??? Awesome, just awesome. So much for not getting involved with talking about Tim, but he serves it. He really has created an amazing ora around all his films. I love his short animated films as well. Definitely check those out on YouTube.

My wife had never seen Beetlejuice before, so I bought it on blu-ray for 10 bones and it took us two nights to finish, but she said she liked it. She didn’t LOVE it, but she enjoyed the experience. I think a lot of Burton’s films are the same way, either you love them to death, or you just appreciate the stylized work of art he’s created and continue on your way, never wanted to revisit it again.

For me, this was one of those classic films that I watched in my childhood and discovered a newfound appreciation for it when I got old enough to value what it really was. A young Jack Donagee (Bladwin) and Michael Keaton blew his performance out of the water. After the film my wife mentioned that he was hardly in the film, which is true. He made his first appearance in the second act and didn’t play a vital plot role until the third act. But every second he’s on the screen he stills it with the performance he gives. Truly amazing.

The creativity Burton uses to craft this world of the dead is phenomenal. I love the scenes where Barbara and Adam are in the offices for the dead. Those sets are truly Burtonesque to the tenth degree. Amazing. The story isn’t as solid as the what the actors bring into their characters. That’s where the film really shines. The interactions between mother/daughter-father, Beetlejuice/family, Barb and Adam/Lydia. And the most memorable moment for me is the dinner dance scene. My wife tried to rip it apart saying something to the effect of: “how could they control all 6 people when there was only 2 of them?” I was like – beforeal. If we started to scrutinize films for realistic qualities, we’d be watching The Andy Griffith Show.

Rating: 8.5/10