This film's popularity perplexes me.

Rating: 4/10 (22 December 2013)

When their attempts to scare away the obnoxious new owners of their home prove less than successful, recently deceased couple Barbara and Adam Maitland (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) turn to outrageous 'bio-exorcist' Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) for help.
They played Harry Belafonte's 'Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)' at my work's Xmas 'do' this year, which made me realise that it's been a whopping 25 years since I last saw Beetlejuice (as well as making me painfully aware that dancing the conga when sober isn't anywhere near as much fun as it is while plastered—next year, I drink!). Sadly, a quarter of a century later, the film isn't anywhere near as much fun as I remembered it to be
There are plenty of creative ideas and director Tim Burton's morbid style is much in evidence, but the film as a whole proves to be far less than the sum of its parts—a series of quirky, macabre, but not very funny gags with little in the way of a decent story to tie it all together. Keaton is also rather irritating as the 'ghost with the most'; thankfully he gets precious little screen-time (despite the film being named after his character), but Winona Ryder, an actress that I simply cannot abide, is sadly present throughout.