Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Michael McDowell (screenplay and story), Larry Wilson (story), Warren Skaaren (screenplay)

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara

Date of Release: March 30, 1988

Nationality: USA

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Rating: PG

Budget: $15 million
Gross: $73.7 million

Runtime: 92 minutes
Production Company: Geffen Company
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hovKm9oFiM

Synopsis: 

Tim Burton's Beetlejuice is about a newly deceased couple, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) trying to cope with the untimely demise. Just as they are trying to get adjust to being dead in their home, a new family, the Deetz, move in and try to change their home. The only person who can at least feel Adam and Barbara's presence in the household is Lydia (Winona Ryder). Adam and Barbara are having a hard time adjusting to the decease lifestyle so they consult the handbook that appeared when they died and end up in a DMV-style waiting room to be attended by their 'case worker'.

Lydia ends up finding Adam and Barbara's handbook and begins to read it. Meanwhile, Adam and Barbara are in the afterlife-like DMV trying to find some help. They end up in a totally different renovated household and find their caseworker, Juno (Sylvia Sidney). They explain that they aren't happy and she lets them know that they should just haunt them themselves. They ask about the ads they've been seeing on 'Bio-Exorcism' but she warns against using this method. Adam and Barbara start to begin to try to haunt the Deetz but have no luck. 

Lydia final talks to Adam and Barbara and lets them know that she can see them. They get to know each other and show her their diorama. They let her know that they wanted to get them out of the house and can't leave it since they died. Lydia tries with her stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara), but she doesn't believe her. Adam and Barbara decide to contact Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) and they finally come face to face with him. 

Beetlejuice stakes his claims for why they should allow him to help them get the Deetz family out of the house but Adam and Barbara aren't buying it. So they return back to the attic and hatch a plan of their own. The Deetz are having their own dinner party with several guests. Delia is about to speak when she breaks out into song, Day-O by Harry Belafonte.

Instead of scaring them into leaving the house, they end up being amazed by it and finding ways to make money off of them. Delia wants to see the ghosts so she makes Lydia take her to them. One of Delia's guest, Otho (Glenn Shadix), finds the handbook and steals it. Adam and Barbara go back to Juno and try to make themselves scarier. Lydia has her first encounter with Beetlejuicec. Otho convinces Delia and her husband Charles (Jeffrey Jones) to perform an seance in their home. The seance causes Adam and Barbara to begin to turn to bone and dust. In a panic, Lydia seeks Beetlejuice's help and he tells her he must marry her and she agrees. 

Beetlejuice reaks havoc amongst the party guests and begins the wedding ceremony. Adam, Barbara and Lydia try to send him back from where he came but he is making it difficult. Barbara gets sent off to the desert with worms and is able to get the worm to come and eat Beetlejuice. Adam, Barbara and the Deetz family are saved. The Maitland's and Lydia have grown to be somewhat of a family. The movie ends with Lydia dancing in mid-air thanks to Adam and Barbara and their ghostly powers. 

Comments: 

Beetlejuice was Tim Burton's second film project and an amazing one at that. The casting, animation, and designs of the film were very original and now in 2013 can be scene as signature pieces of a Tim Burton film. The film won an Academy Award for Best Makeup and even had an animated cartoon released of the same name soon after. Michael Keaton's performance in the film was hilarious and obnoxious in the best way possible. The film is still viewed as a classic and one to watch during the Halloween season, like many of Tim Burton's other films. Another great aspect that this film has is the music that Danny Elfman created. If you haven't seen the film you should definitely take the time to watch it.