Fellman's Movie Reviews

Beetlejuice is a 1988 comedy/horror film directed by Tim Burton. The movie stars Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Cathrine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton as the title character, Beetlejuice. Even though he is the namesake of the movie, Michael Keaton only spends about 20 minutes of the hour and a half runtime of the movie onscreen. Beetlejuice was a commercial success when it first came out, grossing over $84 million against its $15 million budget. 

As a movie fan with comedy as my specialty, Beetlejuice is obviously one of the classics. A character that is so outrageous and obnoxious with supernatural powers is just a perfect storm for any writer. And an actor like Michael Keaton can take something like that and run with it. Which, he did, as you can obviously see when you watch the movie. Which of course, you most certainly should.  

But the movie isn’t just about Beetlejuice himself. Because, like I said, he’s only on screen for less than a third of the movie. It’s the other characters that are in the movie. The Maitland’s dealing with their recent deaths and the Deetz’s, moving into the Maitland’s house is actually the main story line of the movie. Beetlejuice is actually a side story when it comes down to it. A very entertaining side story, sure. But certainly not the central character in the grand scheme of things.  

The effects are a funny point of interest in this movie. Because they vary from one scene to another. Sometimes they’re seamless greenscreen effects. Very well-done visuals that were worth the money spent. And sometimes they’re cheap, stop motion clay figures. Burton said he wanted it to look like that to mimic the bad B horror movies of his childhood. I think it was just because it was the 80s, and they didn’t have the special effects to do any better yet. 

I don’t know why this is called a comedy/horror, though. I don’t really see the horror aspect of it. I mean, I know it’s about being dead and ghosts and whatnot. But, if that’s what makes it a horror movie, then technically, Ghostbusters was a horror movie, too. And nobody out there can convince me that Ghostbusters is a horror movie.  

But I digress. So, yeah. Go see Beetlejuice. It’s not only one of the classics of comedy, but it’s probably a lot funnier than some of the movies that are coming out today. A movie that’s almost 40 years old, and people are still trying their best top it. So, remember, be careful about what you say. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…