Unpredictable "Beetlejuice" is effectively odd enough to be a classic

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2010)

What a peculiar film. Tim Burton's first major film was and still is anything but typical. Although his imagination only gets the credit for bringing this strange concept to life, not conceiving it, it's clear why Burton has gone on to have the career he's had. "Beetlejuice" blends the supernatural world with the real one and does it with a wry sense of humor the entire time. Nothing about "Beetlejuice" is predictable, yet it goes off without a hitch, rarely missing. That's what any truly innovative classic does.
Like very few but many great characters in cinema history, Beetlejuice steals the show despite a glaring lack of screen time. "Beetlejuice" in reality should probably not be titled as such. The film focuses on The Maitlands, a married couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) who die in a car accident and find themselves living as ghosts in their large former home even after the pretentious and dysfunctional Deetz family has moved in. Finding that whenever they try and leave their house they enter a bizarre sand world full of carnivorous worms, the couple desperately attempts to scare the Deetzes away, but to no avail. They soon learn Lydia, the daughter (Winona Ryder), can actually see them.
Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) comes into the picture as a ghost who claims to be able to scare the living better than anyone. Full of gusto, Beetlejuice is an inappropriate, obnoxious, outspoken and not to mention decaying figure who can only be called into the world of the living when someone says his name thrice. Keaton makes him out to be the awful creature he is, but you're definitely left wanting him more on screen anyway.
"Beetlejuice" has an amusing way of walking the line between supernatural and real. Burton gives the film a very realistic tone, in part by basing much of the action in the real world but mostly by portraying the Maitlands as normal people coping with being ghosts. The fantastical and bizarre moments are lightening fast and all the more humorous for it. As the Maitlands try initially to scare the Deetzes, suddenly a closet will open and we'll see Davis hanging and ripping her face off, but the Deetzes can't see her. The "aw, shucks" mentality upon failure makes it all the more amusing.
Basically, what normally would be used as scare tactics are embraced as opportunities for humor. Burton decides that simply because it's the afterlife doesn't mean the tone has to fit the scary pagan image or the heaven/hell image. A bit into the story already, Baldwin's character asks out in the open, "is this heaven?" and the comment receives no legitimate consideration. For Burton and writers Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson, it's whatever they darn well want it to be.
Then there's the random factor. After establishing "Beetlejuice" as a spontaneous and expectation-breaking film, the living characters all break out into Harry Belafonte's "Day O" at the dinner table as part of the Maitlands' plan. The unforgettable scene has no rhyme or reason, something would likely fail in most other films, but Burton sets the tone so well for "Beetlejuice" that we embrace the random musical outburst.
The pervasive strangeness of "Beetlejuice" and its inability to stick to any kind of sensible or effective plot structure for its short running time make the story itself so-so. It's the tone of "Beetlejuice" and the memorable scenes and images it creates that makes Burton's first significant directing achievement a classic.
~Steven C
Visit my site at http://moviemusereviews.com