BEETLEJUICE

Beetlejuice (1988)
Grade: B
Directed by Tim Burton
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, and Glenn Shadix
PREMISE: A couple of young, newlywed ghosts suffer outrage when a new family moves into their recently vacated home. Desperate to get "their house" back, they debate whether or not to use the services of an unpredictable jokester to scare the new family away and reclaim their privacy.

Rated PG (contains some grotesque bodily images, language and rude humor)

It's bizarre that my first real exposure to Tim Burton came in 2003, when I saw Big Fish. Oh, I'm sure I saw The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands when I was younger, but Fish was the first movie I saw knowing it was a Tim Buton Film. A melodrama that contains some imaginative images, but is mostly a straight-laced coming-of-age/adventure story, it's got to be the black sheep in the director's filmography. It's not a bad film; in fact, to date, it might be my favorite movie the director's made. But that movie, which did not feature regular Burton collaborator Johnny Depp but did have Helena Bonham Carter in a small role, reflects little on the wicked creativity and dark impulses known from the director. Tell someone your favorite Tim Burton movie is Big Fish, and they'll probably look at you funny (they won't know what movie you're referring to anyway). Tell them it's Alice in Wonderland or Willy Wonka or Edward Scissorhands, and they'll know exactly what and who you're talking about.

Well, after a recent poll of what Burton films my friends like, this little number-which was released in theaters exactly a week after I was born-surprisingly came out on top. Beetlejuice was Burton's second full-length feature film, and, probably, the first that really showed the director's Touch. Before Depp, before Carter--and not even knowing it would eventually spawn an animated children's series (which I remember from my youth) that would run four seasons on ABC, Beetlejuice probably stands as the director's first "real" movie. A year before Batman, two years before Edward Scissorhands, eleven years before Sleepy Hollow and 24 years before Burton's most recent effort, Dark Shadows, Burton's weird touch and hilariously terrifying touches reached moviegoing audiences en masse. And we've never been the same.

Plot: Head over heels in love with each other and their new house, Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, both incredibly young) are living the dream. That is, until they both drown in a freak off-roading accident. They take to their new post-life existence well enough, once they find out they can't leave their house, but their peaceful but increasingly weird time together is disturbed when a new family suddenly moves in. The Deitzes feature a fussy yuppie matriach (Catherine O'Hara), a big-dreaming, peace-loving schlub (Jeffrey Jones), and a society-shunning Goth (Winona Ryder, also incredibly young). Deciding to scare this new family away, the Maitlands are stunned to realize that they can't scare the adults who don't believe in them, and the supernatural-embracing daughter is actually fond of them. Even when they possess the bodies and minds of the Deitzes and a group of fancy dinner guests, making them do the conga while singing in Jamaican voices, the reaction is amusement and money-mad scheming rather than fright.

While they've already learned of one failsafe way to a peaceful afterlife--hire a dirty-minded, dirty-faced, babbling miscreant (Michael Keaton in an outrageously-fun performance) to scare the family away--they don't want to resort to such unpredictable measures. But as the time goes by, and the Deitzes hire an exorcist (Glenn Shadix) to erase them forever from the house, they push the panic button. And then it's the Deitzes, their friends, and the exorcist who start panicking. Because that miscreant, Beetlejuice, has been kept quiet far too long. He's out, and ready to play, and he may just have special plans for the Deitzes's daughter.

What Works?
With the exception of the R-rated musical Sweeney Todd, I've seen every Tim Burton film since Big Fish, and so it's impressive when I say that Beetlejuice ranks near the top of the director's work in terms of characterization and flat-out entertainment. I won't deny that some of the visuals are cheesy, but the jokes are funny and the actors are game and fresh-faced. Unlike May's overindulgent Dark Shadows, which was entertaining but far too long at nearly two hours, this 90-minute filler ends at about the same time the inventiveness begins to run out--oh, if only more films followed suit. And it's a delight seeing Baldwin, Davis and Ryder so young and energetic, and all three deliver earnest, likeable performances. But, of course, it's Keaton in the title role that really picks things up.

If I didn't know it was Keaton going in, I probably wouldn't have guessed. While I only recently saw Keaton/Burton's two Batman films, I have seen Keaton in unusual roles before, such as the deceased father-turned-snowman in Jack Frost. He also killed audiences everywhere with his joyfully scene-stealing role as the voice of the fey Ken doll in Toy Story 3. Here, looking like a cross between the Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger Jokers and acting like an even more bombastic and crass Captain Jack Sparrow, Keaton gets to mince some really funny jokes and really delicious monologues in his slurred, snarling brogue. It is a slight surprise that Keaton gets so little screen time (I'd say he's only in about 30 of the film's 90 minutes), but it's nice to know that this is the movie that inspired the animated series, rather than the other way around. Too many TV series' or movie remakes have been ruined because they're all about a single character or a single gimmick, so they have to look hard for a story into which to squeeze them. Yes, Keaton is what you'll remember about Beetlejuice, and this movie deserves him.

What Doesn't Work?
The exact function Keaton's character plays, and the drawn-out ending, might be a little convoluted, and, yes, the visuals are dated, but, for the most part, this movie is fun and intriguing.

Content: All Tim Burton movies contains a little weird or gross moments, and this one is no different. Small children might be scared (or appalled) by a scene in which Davis and Baldwin twist their faces into grotesque shapes while they ponder what forms might scare away the Deitzes, and they also visit an underground dead-people-servicing office (a mix between a waiting room and the cantina in Star Wars) which includes people who died of smoking and being run over by cars, and look it. However, most everyone will see that the effects are dated, and they're being used for comedic effect anyway. Keaton also says the 'f' and 's' words once each, and also visits (briefly) a brothel, but this is by and large a family-friendly movie.

Bottom Line (I Promise): Probably Burton's most minute-for-minute entertaining film, Beetlejuice is fun to watch, whether for some kickin' opening and closing music, the refreshingly-young faces of Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis and Winona Ryder, or for Michael Keaton's smelly, blustering mug. If you're a Burton fan, this is one is do-not-miss.

Beetlejuice (1988)
Directed by Tim Burton
Written for the Screen By Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren
Rated PG
Length: 92 minutes